ALASKA
ST. PAUL ISLAND (PRIBILOFS)
MAY 23 – 28, 2010
Forrest’s Diary
May 23: First night
The group arrived at 6:30 PM, and we did some birding at Westchester Lagoon. We found Hudsonian Godwit, Lesser Yellowlegs and Red-necked Grebe, among other regular visitors. The best find was a Rusty Blackbird, something I haven’t seen in the Anchorage area before. Everyone got a good look with some getting it as a life bird!
Dinner at Orso was, as usual, wonderful — and they had just gotten in their first shipment of Copper River Salmon!!
May 24: Flight to St. Paul IslandOff about 9:00 AM for the airport. Made sure they tagged our bags with charter tags so that our luggage would come with us to St. Paul Island. They did, and it did. We did have a two-hour because “They had to change the oil.” Don’t you do that routinely during maintenance time, not when you’re supposed to have a flight? Oh well, better to do it sometime!
The ten of us arrived Saint Paul Island about 6:00 PM. We were greeted with a fairly strong North wind, not a good harbinger for vagrants — this was like our just completed Adak trip where we had consistent north winds. We were told at the airport that the fish processing plant would not be opened for another two weeks, and the hotel cafeteria decided not to serve, so we would have to eat at one of the TDX houses. We actually had a pretty good dinner; breakfast was extremely modest though. We did a bit of birding after dinner. Eurasian Wigeon, Long-tailed Duck, White-winged Scoter, Common Teal, Buffelhead — all on Pumphouse Lake. There was nothing much happening elsewhere. Did have Winter Wren at Reef overlook. Also, heard Greater Yellowlegs, though we were hoping we could make it into a Common Greenshank. Unfortunately, not! Back about 10:00 PM to the lodge.May 25: Day Two on St. Paul IslandUp at 7:00 with the modest breakfast and off birding. First to Ridge Wall for the seabird cliffs: Northern Fulmar, Common and Thick-billed Murre, Tufted Puffin, Black-legged Kittiwake, Parakeet, Crested, and Least Auklets all on the cliff face or out in the water below. Finally located Horned Puffin on the water, then one on the wall next to a Tufted Puffin. That made everyone very happy!
To Southwest Point, but not very much activity. Winds are very light, out of the west; not enough to move the birds around. Walked Antoine Slough and found Semipalmated Plover and small peep that was either Least or Semipalmated Sandpiper — it flew before we got good looks and didn’t vocalize. Back for nice lunch a bit after noon. Break time before going out at 4:00 PM.May 26: The Brambling dayWe found a Brambling at Murinich this morning, also two Cackling Geese. The weather was very cold with NE wind sustained about 20 mph and further deteriorated in the late morning with rain and sleet. To avoid the weather, the roup ‘did’ the Russian Orthodox church and Aleut Museum after lunch and enjoyed themselves. There was a report at dinner that three Gray-tailed Tattlers were flushed from the far marsh at Palovina Lake. They were heard calling, but flew onto a narrow island in the middle of the lake and were not seen again. After dinner, we did a two hour hike all the way around the lake, through various marshes adjacent to it, but the only birds of interest were a Snow Goose and Greater Yellowlegs. I had only seen one Greater Yellowlegs in the 15 years I had been coming to St. Paul, but there were three on the island during our stay this time. Ended the evening with the ‘crab pot walk,’ but nothing of interest.
May 27: Bar-tailed GodwitsOff to Reef after breakfast, stopping at the port first to look for Ancient Murrelets, but we were unable to find any. Once at Reef we got nice looks at nesting Red-faced Cormorant. A bit surprising was the absence of Steller’s Sea Lions on the rocky island off Reef. I don’t know why they weren’t there. Instead, there were a few Northern Fur Seals. Just before lunch, we had excellent looks at two male and two female Bar-tailed Godwits on Salt Lagoon. — a life bird for four of the group.
I spoke with a Native Corporation board member at lunch and emphasized our concern about the continuing deterioration of services on St. Paul. She assured me that they were addressing many of the issues and, sure enough, the tour director was on the afternoon plane and gone. What a relief! Now, we’ll see if they follow through, but I’m delighted that our former person, Jolene, will be managing the business again. She’s excellent!
Afternoon, we went to Southwest Point; nothing but wind and cold. On the return, we found three more Bar-tailed Godwits. After dinner, we got good looks at Sabine’s Gull, our first of the trip. It was very cold and windy in the evening with no activity at Northeast and Hutchinson Hill.
May 28: Depart to AnchorageRather a quiet morning in St. Paul. We checked the Reef cliffs and East landing and people got some good pictures of Red-faced Cormorant. We also walked Antone Slough again. There were some Common Goldeneyes, Red-breasted Mergansers and female Buffleheads on the lake there. Nothing at the crab pots. Flew out at about 5:00 PM. Back in Anchorage, I had dinner with the Gambell 2 group and some of the Pribilofs group.
This has been quieter year than usual due to the cold weather and constant north winds. Here’s the total bird list.
Photo credits: Rusty Blackbird ~ MDF; Brambling ~ Perhols
