Alaska Keeps Rocking!

Headed along Teller Road this morning and into yet more wilderness areas with fantastic vistas. The highlight was a close male Rock Ptarmigan that was sat close beside the road and totally ignored us. 

Rock Ptarmigan

We saw all the usual suspects such as many Willow Grouse, Pacific Golden Plover, Wilson’s Warbler, Golden-crowned Sparrow etc……… 

Willow Grouse or Willow Ptarmigan

Pacific Golden Plover

Golden-crowned Sparrow

We turned off to Woolley Lagoon and found a male Northern Wheatear perched on one of the boulders - this is  rare breeding bird in the USA and only breeds here in Alaska. 

Northern Wheatear

Northern Wheatear hunting...!

There was also a pair of Wandering Tattlers, Ruddy Turnstone and Black-bellied Plovers here as well. 

Black-bellied or Grey Plover

Then we hotfooted it back to town for a Subway lunch before setting off along the Council Road and our goose quest… 

Brunnich's Guillemot, also known as Thick-billed Murre

We birded our way along Safety Lagoon, finding a pair of Eurasian Wigeon, Brunnich’s Guillemot, and a Pectoral Sandpiper until the end and then headed inland, where in the first drizzle of the trip we found a Golden Eagle sitting on a nest just 10 feet up from the road on a small cliff! Wow! 

Golden Eagle

We followed that with a perched Gyrfalcon before heading back up to Safety Lagoon. Our first Snow Bunting was nice, and we sifted through the shorebirds seeing lots of Western Sandpipers, as well as the common Semipalmated Sandpipers. 

Red Knot in breeding plumage - stunning!

A couple Red Knots were on the beach, with a loafing drake Common Merganser (Goosander), and lots of commoner species. We eventually reached the hotel at 9.30pm for dinner…

Bristle-thighed Curlew

An early start saw us driving 72 miles along the Kougarok Road towards Coffee Dome and the displaying grounds of Bristle-thighed Curlew. Along the way we stopped to watch a couple displaying Bluethroats, and watched them song-flighting high into the air before parachuting down to land in the dwarf willow scrub. We were also able to watch some close Willow Grouse beside the road, followed by Greater White-fronted Goose, Tundra Swans, and a pair of Pacific Divers on a picturesque lake. The scenery was again outstanding, with snow-capped mountains, tundra, rivers, lakes – all bathed in sunshine. Oh and a Moose was pretty cool too!

Moose

A picture postcard scene en-route to see the curlew...

We’d almost arrived when a Long-tailed Skua was spotted close to the road, so we jumped out and soaked up yet more awesome views of this wonderful bird.

Long-tailed Skua

On arrival at the required spot we donned wellington boots and walked up the hill in bright sunshine, getting detained by a calling American Golden Plover doing its distraction display. 

American Golden Plover

Once near the top we were lucky to firstly hear and then see a displaying Bristle-thighed Curlew. It took another hour but we eventually tracked one down feeding on the moorland and then watched it for a good 45 minutes. Just as we were about to leave another bird began displaying, which prompted the bird we were watching to soar into the sky, calling and circled a few times high above us before dropping down just over the brow of the hill. Wow!

Leaving here we drove back along the road, this time seeing Snowshoe Hair, Alaskan Hare and Arctic Ground Squirrel. More Bluethroats were seen, a Rough-legged Hawk was sat on a nest, Cliff Swallows were nesting under a bridge, and there was also Northern Harrier, American Tree Sparrow, Grey-cheeked Thrush, and a few Wilson’s Warblers.

Grey-cheeked Thrush is a common bird here

American Tree Sparrow

At a river bridge a flock of Red-necked Phalaropes were feeding below us, and we watched them sail along with the tide under the bridge before flying back under us and upstream a ways before drifting back under the bridge again – just like avian Pooh Sticks! 

Red-necked Phalarope

Wandering Tattler

A pair of Wandering Tattlers were also present here and one began feeding on a snow bank below us where the above photo was taken. And that was our day...

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

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.