First Few Days in Gambell

I’ve been on St. Lawrence Island in the town of Gambell for a few days now. After the airlines really messing things up, I made it to the island on the afternoon of August 26th. It turned out to be a beautiful day. But beautiful days aren’t what you want for birds on Gambell, and only a few migrants were around including an Arctic Warbler and Red-throated Pipit, both lifers. I also found the second fall record of … drum roll please… American Wigeon!

On my first full day, August 27th, I spent the entire day scouring the boneyards, mountain side, the point and the sewage ponds. We also got a ride to the end of Troutman Lake. Around town, migrants were slow again, but a Northern Wheatear was nice. I had a total of 3 Slaty-backed Gulls, 2 at the point and one at the end of Troutman Lake. Also at the end of Troutman, in the smaller ponds, was another second fall record! This time it was a Common Goldeneye. I sure wish they were second fall records from Asia, but I’ve got time. I had one Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, a bird that does not appear to be around in numbers this year (at least not yet, only a total of 3-ish this fall!). Upon arrival back into town, completely tired and broken, Paul tells me about a Gray-tailed Tattler along the mountain side. So, after a quick dinner, I hiked through more pea gravel and finally found the Gray-tailed Tattler right where he described. It was quite friendly!

Today, August 28th, has been more of the same. Landbird migrants are few and far between, although there was a bit of a Pipit/Wagtail thing going on. I did get my lifer Bluethroat, too. A lot of the tour groups are coming in soon. Should make finding those rarities easier.

Off to Gambell

My next job starts soon in Gambell, Alaska. I'll be surveying Yellow-billed Loons for the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Service. Just about every serious birder should have at least heard of Gambell, a hotspot in spring and fall for rare Asian strays with a handful of first-ABA records. It is so close to Russia, you can see the mountains on a clear day.


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I'll be on the island from August 25-Oct 12 and will be in the field daily. I should be able to update this blog once in a while, so check back often to see what blows in!

A Quick AZ Trip

Just returned from a quick and successful trip to SE Arizona. It was great seeing some birds that I haven't seen since 2008 including Red-faced Warbler, Elegant Trogon, Elf Owl and Short-tailed Hawk, among others. We started out birding Carr Canyon. Mike Lester was nice enough to play tour guide to my dad and I. We camped at the top of Carr Canyon and birded the top in the morning. Buff-bellied Flycatchers were quite abundant, our target for the morning. After birding our way down, we lucked into a pair of Montezuma Quail on the road! The male even posed for pictures.

Another abundant bird we encountered just about everywhere was the amazing Painted Redstart.

We also were amused by this Rufous-crowned Sparrow gathering nesting material.

Virginia's Warbler was nice to come across in a mixed flock of warblers in Carr Canyon.

We stopped in Ash Canyon to take a look for the Plain-capped Starthroat. We scored the consolation prize of Lucifer Hummingbird. An uncommon bird in Arizona this year!

Magnificent Hummingbird is another spectacular bird to have around the feeders in the mountains. I never get tired of these birds.

In Madera Canyon, we found my dad his 600th ABA bird, the Mexican Whip-poor-will. We even got amazing looks at is as it called from a close tree.

On our last day, we visited Rose Lake but failed to find any Greater Pewee. So we drove to Inspiration Lookout and enjoyed the continuing Short-tailed Hawk along with a Zone-tailed Hawk. A great way to end the trip!

I'll be leaving for my next job on August 24th, and will try to keep this blog going. I'll be working in Gambell, Alaska doing Yellow-billed Loon surveys for Fish and Wildlife. If all goes well, I should be in Gambell on August 25th. Check back soon!

Moths at My House

I'm back in Michigan after completing my third field season on Alaska's North Slope. I've really been enjoying being able to go birding! It is nice to bird in a place with trees and more passerines than just Lapland Longspur and Savannah Sparrow. I've tracked down a few warblers I missed earlier this year including Prothonotary and Cerulean. Flycatchers are still calling and I have seen Alder, Willow, Acadian, along with Eastern Wood Pewee. I'm leaving early tomorrow morning (8/3) for a trip to the UP to look for more birds/butterflies and moths.

Speaking of moths, I'm finally getting time to use my blacklight. I've only used it in my backyard in Holt, but the past two nights have turned up quite a diversity. I'm still trying to identify a lot of the smaller ones (and some of the bigger ones), but here are a few cool ones that made an appearance.

I'll start out with my personal favorite, Apantesis phalerata, or Harnessed Tiger Moth.

This one is a bit smaller, but is has a lot going on. The new Peterson moth guide leads me to ID this one as Cenopis reticulatana.

The biggest moth to visit was this Banded Tussock Moth, (Halysidota tessellaris).

I'm a fan of the strange looking moths, and this one sure did stick out. It is a Dark-Spotted Palthis or Palthis angulalis.

This one also has a strange appearance. It sits up on the front legs which are "hairy" if you will. It is a Boxed Leaftier or Galasa nigrinodis.

I'll be bringing the light with me on my trip to the UP this weekend. Hopefully being away from the city will help turn up even more moths. I could go for a Sphinx!

Home Stretch

First I'd like to say I have been horrible with updating my blog recently, my bad. I promise to update this more when I have a reliable internet connection and some more interesting news.

That said, there isn't much to talk about. For the most part, birds are done breeding and busy trying to protect their investments (for the lucky ones that actually successfully bred), or flocking up and staging for migration. Lets have a look at some youngsters.

You may have no idea as to what this little guy might grow up to be. I probably wouldn't have either if the adult Arctic Terns weren't actively calling and dive bombing me. As if that wasn't enough, they often poop on the intruder right before making contact...

This odd-shaped gray ball of fluff will (hopefully) turn out to be a Long-tailed Jaeger.

A few birds are still incubating. We found a very weird sight the other day. It seems two female Rock Ptarmigan are cooperatively incubating 11 eggs.

And their eggs

This female King Eider just recently hatched her six eggs and disappeared.

I've talked a lot about the bird life on the Colville this past season, but not about much else. Believe it or not, other life does thrive here. Right now, the most common wildlife is mosquitoes. They have been horrendous the past few days, worse than I have ever seen before. Luckily, we have some pretty serious bug jackets, but that doesn't stop them all. We haven't seen the massive caribou migration that we saw last season (in the thousands) and have only seen a few scattered around.

One thing I am seeing more of is moths! This fella was flying around the tundra the other day.

While the previous moth was cool, this Tiger Moth (sp?) takes the cake for the coolest moth I've seen up here. It was flying over the river while we were boating to our vegetation sites.

I have 13 days left at camp, a couple days in Anchorage, and will be spending about 3 1/2 weeks home (with a quick trip to SE AZ)before leaving for my next grand adventure. Stay tuned!

Hatching and Leaving

The shorebirds are already flocking up and seem to be migrating. Female Red Phalarope have been absent for days, Pectoral Sandpipers are present in large numbers and roaming the tundra, and shorebirds, geese and the other arctic breeders are busy hatching and raising young. We have been very busy gathering data on hatch dates for all the species we can. I banded about 50 Semipalmated Sandpiper chicks, so hopefully a few will be captured in the years to come. Butterflies are hatching, and I've seen Polaris and Frigga Fritillary (I thought Polaris was biennial, but have seen them two summers in a row here), and Booth's and Hecla Sulphur. Nothing new from last year, but I'll keep an eye out.

Due to the insanely busy schedule since my last post, I haven't had much time for photography. Yesterday I was able to spend some "free" time photographing the ridiculously cooperative Stilt Sandpiper at it's nest. It was too close for my long lens, so I resorted to my 90mm macro. This lens is incredibly sharp!

The ptarmigan are also hatching young, and this male was sizing me up.

This Parasitic Jaeger tried to lead me away from their nest with some sort of floppy, injured bird dance type thing.

My next few weeks will consist of banding a few more adult shorebirds and monitoring the rest of the active nests. The weeks after that will be riddled with data entry. Hopefully some exciting birds will be moving through!

Busy Season

The lack of updates are a direct result of the extremely busy time of year. I left AK for a couple days to attend a cousin's wedding. This is the busiest time of year for our camp, with birds starting to hatch, most of them deep into incubation and almost all birds on nest. Lapland Longspurs started to hatch before I left, and shorebirds will be right around the corner. We will band as many adults and juveniles as possible during the hatch. Being gone for 5 days really set us back on the number of birds banded, so I'll be busy trying to catch up.

Pectoral Sandpiper males, like the one pictured above, are still busy hooting at females and protecting territories. They will leave soon as the females being to incubate.

Male Spectacled Eiders also only hang around until the females are on nest. This male is the only one I've been able to get a decent picture of in my 3 field seasons on the North Slope.

Red Phalarope females will be gone soon as well, as most males are sitting on nests. The females will sneak off, leaving the males to incubate and raise the young.

I'll update when I can, but it could be a while. I imagine loads and loads of work upon my return to camp, which should be at the end of the day unless my plane keeps getting delayed.