Nome & Spectacles!

We returned to Council Road this morning and headed some 45 miles out into the wilderness. Things were much quieter this time and the first couple of hours were spent driving, scanning and driving. We made frequent stops to peruse good areas without turning up anything new, except a distant White-billed Diver (Yellow-billed Loon). There were lots of Red-throated Divers, Black Scoters, Glaucous Gulls, a few Sabine’s Gulls, a close Arctic Redpoll, Lapland Longspurs and more of the same species we saw yesterday. 

Lapland Longspur

The scenery was stunning with the open tundra dotted with small lakes and snow-capped hills dominating the horizon, and the sound of waves crashing onto the shore from the Bering Sea. We were hoping for Emperor Goose along here, but alas we had no such luck, and had to content ourselves with quite a few Aleutian Terns flying around and over the road. We came across a few Cackling Geese, some Snow Geese, many Tundra Swans, Sandhill Cranes and a most unexpected drake Spectacled Eider. Holy cow! What an adrenaline rush that one gave everybody! It’s a rare bird here at Nome and not something I’ve seen reported in other trip reports. You expect it at Barrow but not here. This sighting even eclipsed the stunning grey-morph Gyrfalcon perched on a rocky crag high above the road. So by now it was well past 1pm and we had to return to Nome for lunch, so off we drove passing a distant herd of Musk Ox along the way.

The tundra near Nome

Teller Road was our destination this afternoon. We checked a few migrant spots around town before heading out into the bleak landscape, where we enjoyed amazing close views of a singing Blackpoll Warbler, as well as Grey-cheeked Thrush, Northern Shrike, Common Redpolls and some closer Harlequin Ducks along a fast-flowing river. 

Blackpoll Warbler

Moving on we saw Yellow, Orange-crowned and Wilson’s Warblers, Golden-crowned and Red Fox Sparrows, and a perched Rough-legged Hawk. 

We ended the day at Nome rivermouth where we were treated to our best views of Aleutian Terns perched on a sandbank before flying overhead after being disturbed by an Arctic Skua (Parasitic Jaeger). 

Arctic Tern

American Wigeon