Birds of Alaska: A Breeding Extravaganza and Asiatic Vagrants

Transcription

1 Birds of Alaska: A Breeding Extravaganza and Asiatic Vagrants An Endorsed Tour of the American Birding Association Featuring High Lonesome BirdTours May 19-30, 2018 We hope you ll consider joining this tour to spectacular Alaska. We will visit three quintessential hotspots for birders: St. Paul Island (Pribilofs); Gambell on St. Lawrence Island; Nome on the Seward Peninsula. The Pribilof Islands, often called the Galapagos of the North, lie in the middle of the Bering Sea about 300 miles from landfall. St. Paul Island, where we stay, hosts some of the largest colonies of alcids (auklets & other seabirds) in the world, as well as the largest Northern Fur Seal colony in the world. St. Paul is an isolated and charming island with a small Aleut population. AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 1 Parakeet & Crested Auklets. Photo: Colin Bradshaw

2 Asian vagrants regularly visit St. Paul in late May, and we expect to see a few of them along with the resident species. Huge colonies of seabirds nest on the cliffs and in the rocks on the island, including Parakeet, Least and Crested auklets; Horned and Tufted puffins; Thick-billed and Common murres; Northern Fulmar; Black-legged and Red-legged kittiwakes. Ancient Murrelets Photo: Colin Bradshaw Village of St. Paul Photo: Forrest Davis St. Lawrence Island lies in the Bering Sea just off the Siberian coast. Gambell is a small, timeless Eskimo village subsisting much as it has for thousands of years. On clear days, Siberia can be seen clearly 35 miles in the distance. Whale, walrus, seal, polar bear and birds account for most of the native diet. High Arctic and Asian vagrants are the draw at Gambell. Many of the Asian species recorded in North America have been seen in Gambell and environs. We will spend much of our time within a couple of miles of the village. There are huge colonies of Parakeet, Least and Crested auklets on the cliffs within walking distance. Northwest Point provides a super-highway for seabirds passing very close by the island in migration and usually yields Arctic Loon, Yellow-billed Loon, Dovekie, Emperor Goose, and Ivory Gull as well as many other seabirds and ducks. The centuries-old bone yards often hide vagrant passerines, e.,g, Eurasian Bullfinch, Hawfinch, and Common Cuckoo. The marsh about two miles from town is superb for shorebirds and typically yields several of the Asiatic species. Nome lies on the Seward Peninsula, jutting into the Bering Sea. It s a frontier town in a world where few such curiosities remain. Nome is accessible only by boat and airplane, bordered on the West and South by the Bering Sea, and to the North and East by miles of trackless AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 2

3 wilderness. Nome is a fascinating and challenging destination. During June, the midnight sun is at its brightest, the tundra is in full bloom, and the birds and mammals are breeding. Our tour will cover the prime birding areas along the seacoast, the high tundra and, if time permits, the only boreal forest on the Seward Peninsula. Most of the birds are in their resplendent breeding plumages rarely if ever seen in the lower 48. We ll make an extra effort to locate the Western Alaska specialties that include the Rock & Willow ptarmigans; Bristle-thighed Curlew; Bar-tailed Godwit; Red-necked Stint; Aleutian Tern; Gyrfalcon; Bluethroat; Eastern Yellow Wagtail; White Wagtail; and others. The road system of Nome provides the best access to the Alaska bush without an airplane, and we will drive it extensively. Red-legged Kittiwake Photo: Colin Bradshaw Northern Fur Seal rookery Photo: Marianne Phillips Tour at a Glance PRICE 12 days $7550. Single not available at Gambell. Single for Pribilofs/Nome subject to availability, $500. TOUR SIZE Limited to 23 participants, with two High Lonesome guides and two ABA Hosts. INCLUDES From Anchorage, Alaska. Pickup and drop-off at Anchorage Airport, 11 nights lodging, all meals, transport, guide, taxes, & tips (guide tips optional). AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 3

4 SUMMARY OF ITINERARY May 19 May 20 May 21 May 22 May 23 May 24 May 25 May 26 May 27 May 28 May 29 Dinner and overnight in Anchorage. Depart for St. Paul Island about noon. Birding and overnight. Birding and overnight in St. Paul. Birding and overnight in St. Paul. Birding in the morning and early afternoon. Return to Anchorage and dinner at Coast. Overnight at Coast. Depart for Nome on Alaska Air; depart for Gambell about 1:00 PM on Bering Air. Overnight Siviqaq Inn. Full day of birding at Gambell. Overnight Siviqaq Inn. Full day of birding at Gambell. Overnight Siviqaq Inn. Check out and depart for Nome. About 10:30 AM. check in to Aurora Inn, Nome. Lunch & Dinner in Nome. Birding in afternoon and evening in Nome Full day of birding; overnight Aurora Inn. Full day of birding in Nome. Overnight Aurora Inn. May 30 Check out of Aurora Inn and depart for Anchorage about 12:30 PM. DETAILED ITINERARY: Day One, May 19. Arrival in Anchorage and free shuttle to Coast International Inn. We ll meet in Anchorage at the Coast International Inn at 6:30 PM and proceed to dinner downtown at Orso, one of the finest restaurants in Alaska. Either before or after dinner, we will do some birding in the Anchorage area Day Two: May 20. Flight to St. Paul Island & Overnight Breakfast at the Coast. Proceed to airport at 9:30 AM for our flight to St. Paul, departing about 11:30 AM. Arrive St. Paul about 3:30 PM. We ll be staying this year at the airport hotel in newly renovated quarters. We ll go birding before dinner, probably getting our first good looks at Redlegged Kittiwake. Dinner at the airport restaurant. Birding afterwards. We ll be looking especially for the White-tailed Eagle that has been seen a number of times over the last three years. AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 4

5 Day Three, May 21. Overnight at St. Paul Island Breakfast at 7:00. Birding until lunch at 12:00. Birding from 1:30 until dinner at 5:30. Birding from 7:30 until 10 or later depending what we might find. This will be our schedule for the entire stay on the island. We will spend at least one morning at the sea cliffs observing the vast array of nesting birds: Red-faced & Pelagic cormorants; Northern Fulmar; Red-legged and Black-legged kittiwakes; Tufted & Horned puffins; Common and Thick-billed murres; Crested, Parakeet, & Least auklets. Ancient Murrelets and, less commonly, Rhinoceros Auklet are often seen out on the water. Steller s Eiders and Emperor Geese are found somewhere most years. Yellow-billed Loon is often seen from the shore as well. The Pribilofs subspecies of the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch is common as are Rock Sandpipers and Snow Buntings. Asian vagrants that can be seen some years include Wood Sandpiper; Tundra Bean Goose; Smew; Lesser Sand Plover; Gray-tailed Tattler; Common Greenshank; Long-toed Stint; Common Sandpiper; Common Cuckoo; Red-throated Pipit; Hawfinch; Brambling; Rustic Bunting; Eye-browed Thrush and many more. Rarer sitings include Temminck s Stint; Olive-backed and Pechora pipits; Red-flanked Bluetail; Siberian Rubythroat, and many other accidentals only seen a handful of times. Day Four, May 22. All-day birding on St. Paul Island We ll spend more time looking for land birds and shorebirds on this day. We ll be flexible in order to quickly respond to any reports from other parts of the island. Staff will be out looking! Snowy & Short-eared owls are present most years. We ll also spend some time at the Northern Fur Seal colonies where the females have started arriving from their migration along with some juveniles and a few males. Day Five, May 23. Morning birding at St. Paul Island; departure for Anchorage about 4:00 PM. We ll spend the morning looking for any vagrants that may have shown up overnight. This will be an ideal time to sit and photograph on the sea cliffs for those so inclined. After lunch, we ll pack up and spend an hour or two birding close to the airport. We ll check in at the airport at about 2:00 PM for our 4:00 PM (approximate) flight back to Anchorage. Upon our return about 7:30 PM, we ll check in at the Coast Inn and have a late dinner at the hotel restaurant. Day Six, May 24. Flight to Nome, then to Gambell. Overnight at Sivuqaq Inn Breakfast at the Coast. Meet promptly at about 7:45 AM in the lobby for our trip to the airport. Anchorage Airport is already busy with the tourist season starting, so we want to get there two hours before our 10:00 AM (subject to change!) flight. We get our E-tickets for our flight to Nome. AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 5

6 At Nome, we'll have our bags driven over to Bering Air, just across the road. Weather permitting, the group will depart sometime around 1:30 arriving in Gambell in time for a late lunch. Please be conscious of baggage restrictions and extra cost ($1.00 or more per pound) if you go over. You can leave extra bags at the Coast or Bering Air. QUARTERS: Upon arrival at Gambell, you ll be met by our guides and some locals at the airport. Your gear will be moved to our quarters in the Sivuqaq Inn (907) (lounge phone) via ATVs. We will assign people to rooms when we arrive at the Inn. It is important to have warm clothes with you since the trip to the Inn, though short, can be quite invigorating! Take some of your layers off for the flight then put them back on when we arrive. ATV's (All-Terrain Vehicles): We rent ATV's from the villagers, one per two participants. These are 4-wheel ATVs, so much more stable than 3-wheelers. We will give a short class on operation and safety. It is important to listen carefully and to abide by speed limitations, loads, restricted areas, etc. Ice floe at Gambell with Ivory Gull in Ice floe at Gambell with Ivory Gull in flight. Photo: Forrest Davis Siberian Mountains from Gambell Photo: Forrest Davis AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 6

7 Top two:green Sandpiper and Common Ringed Plover Below:Spectacled and King Eider flight from Northeast Point Photos: Dave MacKay Days 7 and 8: May 25 and 26. Full days of birding. Overnights at Sivuqaq Inn The routine will be pretty much the same for every day at Gambell. We often start the day at sea watch since it is very active in the morning and late afternoon. While birding, we will be in radio contact all the time. Sometimes, we will split up to cover more ground. We will stay in contact as well with other groups on the island. AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 7

8 MEALS: Meals will be prepared by our fine chef, Jennifer MacKay. Breakfast will typically be about 7:00 a.m. Meals will be coordinated with the other groups so that everyone isn t eating at the same time since we ll be sharing cooking space. Until we have it coordinated, we can t tell you the exact times but will as soon as we know. Typically, though, breakfast will be around 7:00 AM, lunch about 1:00 p.m. and dinner about 6:30 p.m. LOCATIONS: SEAWATCH: Takes place out on Northwest Point, just outside of town and past the dump. This is an excellent place to observe the variety of seabirds, eiders, ducks and alcids that cruise by very closely. It can be quite cold and windy on the point since we ll be facing directly towards the mountains of Siberia, 35 miles away. On clear days, we are rewarded with great looks at Siberia! We often see whales surfacing within 100 yards of the shoreline as well as Walrus on the ice floe. We can expect to see Steller s, Spectacled, Common & King eiders, sometimes in close flight, sometimes on the water. Yellow-billed, Arctic, Pacific & Red-throated loons are regular flybys. Depending upon the ice floe (more is better) we should see Ivory Gull and, sometimes, Ross s Gull. Red Phalaropes frequently land right off the point to feed. Parasitic, Pomarine, & Long-tailed Jaegers are regular flybys along with Emperor Geese. NEAR BONEYARD: The boneyards are the native dumps used for centuries to dispose of whale, walrus and sea lion carcasses. The natives dig in the boneyards, looking for old ivory, which is quite valuable. The near boneyard merges with the village on the SW side, a couple of hundred yards from the Inn. Typically, we find Red-necked Stints and Common Ringed Plovers here. In addition, this is the location of many of the vagrant passerines that move through starting in the last week of May and continuing the first few days of June. FAR BONEYARD: Flush up against the mountain, this boneyard is about 3/4 of a mile from the Inn. It has been very productive for passerines, and we will check it several times daily. There are a couple a smaller boneyards between the mountain and the village that sometimes yield birds of interest. THE NEAR MARSH: Lies between the Far Boneyard and the Lake. As snow melts from this rather small area, shorebirds begin coming in to feed and rest, usually in ones and twos. Many of the best shorebird sightings occur at this marsh. THE FAR MARSH: Lies at the south end of the Lake, about 2 miles from the Village. This marsh is much larger than the Near Marsh, but it can be difficult to negotiate because the water can be over your knees in places. There is an excellent vantage point from the road running along side. It s another location for shorebird vagrants. THE FAR LAKE: Lies about 1/2 a mile beyond the big lake and is usually frozen until the very last days of May or the beginning of June. Has been the location of some significant sightings. AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 8

9 THE ALCID CLIFFS: These run all along the mountain from the lake to the Sea. We ll visit them in an effort to get better looks at the rare, breeding Dovekie. The mountainside has also been productive at times for vagrants as well. WEATHER: The weather at Gambell can be an issue for a number of reasons. We hope for strong Southwest winds to push in Asian vagrants migrating up the Bering Sea via the Siberian Express. Westerly and northwesterly winds are pretty good as well. Southerly and easterly winds are likely to bring in birds from the Alaska mainland. There s not a thing we can do about the weather except to hope for the best. Nevertheless, birding is always great! The rule of the thumb for flying in and out of Gambell is that the top of the mountain is visible from the village. Bering Air has a representative on the island and they make the call to Bering telling them if it s ok to fly. We have no control over this process. Bering will fly if they think its safe. Sometimes, the mountain will clear for a brief period, than disappear again while the planes are en-route. The good news is that we only need concern ourselves with this process on our first day and our last. Please remember that we do not cover the additional costs incurred due to weather or mechanical delays. If you obtained a good travel insurance policy, you re in good shape for getting reimbursed for any additional costs associated with trip interruption/delay. Native Whaling Boat Photo: Photo Forrest Davis AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 9

10 Nome Aerial View. Day 9, May 27. Depart for Nome and overnight at Aurora Inn Safety Roadhouse, last checkpoint on Iditarod Race. Photos: Forrest Davis We expect to fly back to Nome about 10:00 a.m. but sometimes have to wait for the afternoon flight due to weather. We ll get settled at the Aurora Inn and have lunch. Birding after lunch along Safety Lagoon. We ll spend the rest of the day carefully searching the shorelines, lagoons, and ponds along the Bering Sea for less common birds such as Arctic Loon, Yellow-billed loon, Rednecked Stint, Ross s Gull, Sabine s Gull, and Spectacled Eider, as well as the many of the resident shorebirds, waterfowl, and seabirds. Parasitic Jaeger Photo: Forrest Davis Red-necked Stint Photo: Ashok Khosla AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 10

11 Clockwise: Bar-tailed Godwit Photo: Ashok Khosla PacificLoon Willow Ptarmagin Gyrfalcon at nest Photos: Forrest Davis Day 10, May 28. Drive Kougarok Road. Overnight at Aurora Inn We ll drive the 85-mile length of Kougarak Road into the high tundra and mountains of Seward Peninsula in search of nesting Bristle-thighed Curlew, Bluethroat, and Gyrfalcon, among others. Rock & Willow ptarmigan are abundant at this time of year. Eastern Yellow Wagtails will just be setting up territories. We ll watch (carefully) for Grizzly Bear, Muskox, Moose, Wolf, Lynx and other mammals. The scenery on this trip is awesome! Long-tailed Jaeger Photo: Forrest Davis AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 11

12 Clockwise: Kougarok Road on the way to Bristle-thighed Curlew. Bristle-thighed Curlews. Bluethroat. Photos: Forrest Davis Day 11, May 29. Drive Teller Road. Overnight Aurora Inn. We ll slowly drive out Teller Road along the coast, stopping at several river crossings looking for Wandering Tattler; Arctic, Blackpoll, Orange-crowned, and Wilson s warblers; Northern Waterthrush; Gray-cheeked Thrush; stopping at Wooley Lagoon to see a native whale-hunting outpost on the Bering Sea, while observing nesting Black-bellied Plovers; Pacific and American Golden-Plovers as well as Semipalmated Sandpipers and Whimbrels. Parasitic Jaegers are always around harassing the shorebirds at their nests. We should get good looks at Northern Wheatears and Snow Buntings as well. At the end of the road, we find Teller itself, an Inupiat village that sits out on a spit in the bay. White Wagtail and many alcids, including Horned and Tufted Puffins, Pigeon and Black guillemots and Common Murres have been seen here. We should see Spotted Seals close to the shore. AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 12

13 Teller Spit. Photos: Forrest Davis Day 12, May 30 Depart for Anchorage about 12:30 PM where trip ends. TRIP DETAILS: Included in trip: Internal flights All meals from dinner May 19 through breakfast May 30 Eleven (11) nights lodging Transportation Land use fees Guides ATVs (two person per each ATV) at Gambell Taxes & tips (tips to guides are optional) Not included: Flights from the lower 48 Travel insurance (highly recommended) Alcoholic beverages Personal calls Laundry (limited availability at St. Paul & Gambell for no fee) Any other item of a personal nature AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION ENDORSED TOURS 13