Alaska - At Last...!

Flew to Nome, Alaska on the 10am flight, one of the top birding sites in North America. Needless to say everyone was really excited to be here, and with such a spectacular flight with snow-covered hills and mountains visible from the plane as we approached this remote outpost in the Alaskan wilderness, we were certainly ready to begin our exploration. 

View from the plane as we approached Nome

Rental cars were obtained, room keys at our motel were available and lunch at Subway was almost an inconvenience before we could set off on the Council Road that follows the coast south, bordered on one side by tundra and on the other by the Bering Sea. First up were the exceedingly common Glaucous Gulls, with Wilson’s Snipe, Lapland Longspur and a Red-throated Diver sitting on its nest close by.

Some scenery from the Nome area

The pattern for the rest of the day from 2pm – 8.15pm was just to stop along the road whenever we saw something of interest. It’s really difficult to give an accurate chronological order of events, but the next ‘biggie’ was a Slaty-backed Gull, which showed a few times before flying away, and a Vega Gull. The nearby willows held Golden-crowned, American Tree, Red Fox and White-crowned Sparrows, plus our first Grey-cheeked Thrush and Arctic (Hoary) Redpoll. Numerous small lagoons and lakes held a variety of waterfowl including Greater Scaup, Northern Pintail, Black Brant, a single Northern Shoveller, American Wigeon, and Green-winged Teal. Out to see we encountered flocks of Black Scoter, with numerous White-winged Scoter and a single drake Surf Scoter. But I think the group of 8 Harlequin Ducks just offshore really stole the show. 

Harlequin Ducks

And talking of stealing the show, you just couldn’t beat the stunning and totally amazing sighting of a male Walrus hauling itself onto a beach and frolicking in the surf right below us. It was a mesmerizing and totally gobsmacking experience and was totally out of the blue. And we even saw a Gray Whale close inshore and not too far away from the Walrus. Unbelievable!

Walrus.....

 The tundra was home to quite a few sexy Long-tailed Skuas (Jaegers), whilst a group of Pomarine Skuas and a couple of Arctic Skuas also flew over at various stages during the afternoon. 

Long-tailed Skua

Breeding shorebirds mainly comprised of Semipalmated Sandpipers, with smaller number of Western Sandpipers, plus Least Sandpiper on a sandbank, a few Semipalmated Plovers, and a single Pacific Golden Plover. 

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Plover

A pair of Bar-tailed Godwits was nice, as were small groups of shorebirds on the beaches that included both Ruddy and Black Turnstones, and a few immaculate-looking Surfbirds. Numerous Red-necked Phalaropes adorned the small pools, with a few flocks out on the open ocean, and at one stage late in the day a pair of awesome Red Phalaropes appeared. One of my personal favourites was the summer-plumaged Sabine’s Gulls, a few of which were loafing in the coastal lagoons.

Surfbird

 But it wasn’t until the final hour of the day did the two best avian highlights of the day occur. First of all, a random roadside stop to scan some waders on the beach produce the unexpected sighting of a pair of Rock Sandpipers. What odd birds these were and how obliging they were to the camera toting birders amongst us!

Rock Sandpiper

And, thanks to some diligent observational skills by Andy, we eventually nailed the much-wanted Aleutian Tern. It wasn’t close but that’s why we carry scopes with us right?

Other good sighting today certainly include the numerous Red-throated Divers we saw, a single breeding-plumaged Great Northern Diver (Common Loon), some displaying Willow Ptarmigans, Pelagic Cormorants, loads of Mew Gulls, Yellow Warbler etc. All of this surrounded by the awe-inspiring landscape certainly made this a great day and one we would never forget.  

Red-throated Diver

The thing about being in Alaska is that it never gets dark. So, as a birder, it's hard to 'switch off' and get some sleep with bright sunshine outside at 11pm!!

Grosbeaks and Ptarmigans - Wow!

We visited some nearby feeders in a residential area after a leisurely 7am breakfast and this proved to be a great visit as there were at least 2 male Pine Grosbeaks and at leas one female present in the surrounding trees. 

Pine Grosbeak

One male was particularly obliging as he came down to a roadside puddle to drink right in front of us. A few Red Crossbils were also particularly pleasing to some of our group as they were of the ‘ponderosa pine’ race. 

Red Crossbill

At least 12 Brown-capped Rosy-Finches were here, a couple of Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches, Cassin’s Finch, along with Pygmy Nuthatch (although the views couldn’t beat the ones outside our motel earlier this morning), Steller’s and Grey Jays and a posing Clarke’s Nutcracker.

Clarke's Nutcracker

Pygmy Nuthatch

 

Red Fox

We then headed up into the snow-covered mountains to Loveland Pass, where after what seemed an eternal half an hour search, we finally caught up with White-tailed Ptarmigan. One bird was seen down to around a metre feeding in front of us. It was totally oblivious to our presence and literally ran up to us, through us, around us before finding a suitable patch of dwarf-scrub willow to feed on before heading up the hill and away. What an experience and the undoubted highlight of the tour.

White-tailed Ptarmigan

Leaving here in high spirits we drove to the foothills after swapping our warm weather gear for lighter clothing back at the motel. We searched the conifer forests in vain before heading to Red Rocks where a posing male Broad-tailed Hummingbird displayed all around us from his various song posts along the road. Apart from American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Lincoln’s Sparrow and a couple of Orange-crowned Warblers….

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

In the late afternoon a quick visit to the local water treatment works resulted in sightings of 2 Western Ospreys on nests and both Audubon’s and Myrtle Warblers to round off a great day.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison

We returned to the Black Valley of the Gunnison this morning, seeing another 2 Dusky Grouse, but our attention was somewhat distracted by the awesome views of the canyon.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Cracking views of White-throated Swift and Violet-green Swallow were appreciated by all, and there was also a Sharp-shinned Hawk flying by, Audubon’s Warbler, brief Virginia’s Warbler, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglet, Mountain and Western Bluebirds, Townsend’s Solitaire, displaying Wild Turkey, close male Northern Harrier, many Woodhouse’s Scrub Jays, Mountain Chickadee, Bushtit, White-breasted Nuthatch, Cassin’s Finch, Green-tailed Towhee, as well as some other commoner species.

Mountain Bluebird

Spotted Towhee

Western Bluebird

 Leaving here we drove to Gunnison where Brewer’s Sparrow and Sage Thrasher were seen, before we drove over Monarch Pass and scored with views of 5 Clark’s Nutcrackers.

Clark's Nutcracker

The drive to Dillon was truly spectacular with snow-capped mountains, deep-sided valleys and clear blue skies. My words can’t do this justice at all.

Geting to the Good Stuff

We returned to the same desert canyon as yesterday just after daybreak and found more birds than on our previous visit. A Green-tailed Towhee showed well, as did Mountain Bluebird, a recently arrived Ash-throated Flycatcher, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher and a Chukar for Keith. 

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Leaving here we headed up into the mountains. With snow all around we notched up a pair of Red-naped Sapsuckers, Slate-coloured Fox Sparrow, Grey Jay, female Pine Grosbeak, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch. And the views were to die for!

Nice View....

Grey Jay

Dropping lower we found a pair of stunning Lewis’s Woodpeckers in the warm sunshine before calling into Subway for lunch. 

Lewis's Woodpecker

A short drive took us to our motel in Montrose where we had a siesta before heading out to the Black Canyon of Gunnison and our date with Sooty Grouse. After a bit of a search we found one bird skulking in the shadows but were totally underprepared for the displaying male we encountered nearby. He was really bold and stared at us before displaying just a few metres away, right in front of us. It was a totally amazing performance and another major tour highlight that will live long in our memories.  

Heading South

We visited a known location for Sharp-tailed Grouse and found the lek deserted, which was quite alarming. However after some relentless scanning we scoped some birds at a distant lek, before finding  a couple of birds feeding in the nearby bushes. A Cooper’s Hawk also flew by. Afterwards, we followed a side canyon and over the tall crags a few White-throated Swifts were seen, whilst a Golden Eagle was perched below them. Driving into another spectacular setting we saw Bald Eagle, Spotted Towhee and heard a Green-tailed Towhee singing from the nearby hillside.

Our journey south was enlivened by a stop overlooking a large lake where Ring-billed, California, Franklin’s and Bonaparte’s Gulls were seen, along with White-faced Ibis, plus Northern Rough-winged and Tree Swallows further on.

We then visited a grocery store and bought our picnic lunch before heading to our next site where Juniper Titmouse, Black-throated Grey Warbler and Grey Flycatcher were new additions to our list. A few Pinyon Jays were also seen as well, along with a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Juniper Titmouse

Grey Flycatcher

We ended the day in a desert canyon near the Colorado River where Black-throated Sparrow, Rock Wren, Loggerhead Shrike, and a pair of Mountain Bluebirds showed well. 

Black-throated Sparrow

Mountain Bluebird

It was a very scenic location to end another great day in Colorado.

Barrow's Goldeneye at Last!

We split the group today with some people returning to the Greater Sage Grouse lek, which this morning was bathed in wonderful sunshine. The rest of the group went back to the feeders in the hope of seeing Black Rosy-Finch, which was photographed. There was also a pair of Brown-capped Rosy-Finches and Oregon Junco present. 

The scenery here isn't too shabby...

The drive back finally produced a decent sighting of Prairie Falcon flying across the hillside before perching on a pylon, where we scoped it and this Moose. 

There's a Moose loose about this......

Returning to Walden for breakfast we set out to a lake where 30+ Barrow’s Goldeneyes were present, a bird I’d wanted to see for a very long time. It was awesome to see so may birds here, and some were even displaying. Really wanted to get better photos but the birds weren't that close, and my attempts at PhoneScoping are pretty awful....

Barrow's Goldeneye

Other birds here included Common Goldeneye, Western, Horned and Eared Grebes, plus there was a Western Osprey on a nest.

The afternoon was then spent checking out a few sites without much luck before arriving at the small town of Craig where we were to spend the night.