Pribilofs & Nome 5/28-6/7/98

Dendroica@aol.com
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 21:05:06 EDT


Some MDOspreyers have asked for trip reports, so here's mine.

A combined trip to St.Paul's on the Pribilofs and Nome (and the surrounding
Seward Peninsula) from May 28 thru June 7, 1998,  resulted in over 150 species
of which 25 were lifers for me.  Others on this High Lonesome Ecotour trip who
had never birded the Pacific Coast States yield 60 or more lifers. 

Although spring had come to the southern part of Alaska, it was still fairly
wintery on St. Paul's and the Seward Peninsula--cold and drizzly, but
bearable, if you believe as I do that the best sightings and inclement weather
go hand in hand.
Unfortunately, winds were out of the east for much of the trip which
diminished chances for Eurasian migrants and vagrants. 

The first two and a half days were spent on St. Paul's.  Highlights here were
Eurasian species--Wood Sandpiper, Common Greenshank and Eyebrowed Thrush, all
lifers for me, as were the expected Red-Faced Cormorants, Red-Legged
Kittiwakes, Bar-Tailed Godwits and Parakeet, Least and Crested Auklets, Yellow
Wagtails, and my 650th. ABA area lifer, Horned Puffin.  I also added Pacific
Golden Plover, which I probably had seen out west many years ago before the
split.  A total species count of 53  included Snowy and Short-Eared Owls,
Fulmar and Eurasian Skylark.  A pristine, breeding plummage male Wilson
Warbler lighted up the dreary landscape one afternoon. And finally, I got to
see well, a breeding plummaged male King Eider.

The cafeteria food on St. Paul's was suprisingly good, especially the fresh
Halibut.  I understand this has not always been the case.  The King Eider
Hotel is still standing, communal bathrooms and all.

The city of Nome has got to be The Nation's Junkyard.  Once equipment wears
out, it is discarded anywhere outside the house or business, it seems.  But
once outside this dusty /muddy city, the Seward Peninsula is most impressive
with its mountains, many rivers, tarns and the mosaic splendor of its tundra
(even at the beginning of its spring awakening).

We arrived on June 1 in Nome and headed for the Safety Lagoon after lunch,
seeing Willow Ptarmigan and Long-Tailed Jaegers (both lifers) and a nesting
Peregrine Falcon along the way.  The Safety Lagoon was still fairly covered
with ice on June 1 and on a return on June 2, which was fortunate for us,
since it concentrated waterfowl in the open water around the inlet.  Our
return to the Safety Lagoon on our final trip day found a lot more open water
and fewer observable birds.  Highlights here were Arctic Loon (four, with an
Arctic and a Pacific in the scopes at the same time for comparison), a pair
each of Steller's Eiders and Emperor Geese, Aleutian Terns, and Slaty-Backed
Gull, all lifers, plus Red-Throated Loons, Common Black-Headed ,Sabine,
Glaucous, Glaucous-winged and Mew Gulls, Black-Legged Kittiwakes, Red and Red
-Necked Phalaropes, and many species of shorebirds and ducks.  

At Cape Nome, on June 2, we saw a Yellow-billed loon and on June 7th there, we
sighted a pair of Common Loons, thus racking up all five loons on the trip.
Also off Cape Nome, we sighted Black and Pigeon Guillimots.

There are three roads (all about 80 miles long) out of Nome into the Seward
Peninsula. Unfortunately the one going to Council was washed out and
eliminated our only chance to bird among trees and pick up forest species.
The other two roads took us through tundra and rocky mountain terrain which
provided a lot of lifers for most of the group.  Mine included Rock Ptarmigan,
Hoary Redpoll, Bluethroat (a knockout), Arctic Warbler and Bristle-Thighed
Curlew.  Because of the late spring, we had to really work for the Curlew
since they had only begun to stake out territories, and we did not find our
one and only Arctic Warbler until June 6.  

The two roads traveled provided an abundance of Redpolls (both species), Grey-
checked Thrushes, Yellow, Wilson's, Orange-Crowned and Blackpoll Warblers,
Lapland Longspurs (ubiquitous), Golden and White-Crowned, Fox, Tree, and
Savanah Sparrows.  Yellow Wagtails and Northern Wheatears were about, and we
found a Varied Thrush among the myriad of Robins, and a Say's Phoebe, too.
We observed and studied at close range, a Trumpeter's Swan at Wooley Lagoon. 

Our rarest (and perhaps controversial) find was a Green Sandpiper just outside
Nome. We observed the bird both in flight and briefly on the ground, seeing
clearly its white rump patch, dark back and wings, and green legs, and noted
its resemblance to a Solitary. Overnight, three of us (leader included)
independently studied the guides and concluded by process of elimination that
it was indeed a Green.  The guides indicate that it is casual Eurasian
visitant to the extreme Aleutians and St. Lawrence Island.  One had been
sighted at St. Paul's a few day before we arrived, but Nome is far from St.
Paul's, making our sighting a very rare one, indeed.

I was disappointed that we did not find White Wagtail, McKay's Bunting or
Spectacled Eider and that the easterly winds perhaps prevented a larger influx
of Eurasian Species.  I also would have liked to see the tundra a few weeks
later in full bloom--it was just starting.  But all in all, it was a great
trip.

My favorite sightings were the upclose looks at the stunning face of a Red-
Faced  Cormorant on St. Paul's and the six-foot-away look at a light-phased
Gyrfalcon near Teller as it flew pass the side of our van pursued by Yellow-
Wagtails.  And then of course there were the Rough-Legged Hawks, Short-Eared
Owls...................   

Ralph  Wall
Great Falls, Va.
Dendroica@aol.com