[obol] Alaska and sandpipers

[Alan Contreras]

Seeing Dave Lauten's post about migrant sandpipers reminded me that I have
not posted anything about the great trip to Alaska that I took June 8-16
with a group of seven and Rich Hoyer as guide.  Oregon birders who went were
me, Magnus Persmark, Ross and Barbara West from Eugene and Sheran Wright
from Bend.

Our tour included Homer Spit, a boat trip to the Kenai Fjords, Denali
National Park and the old Denali Hwy, and two and a half days in Barrow.
Birds I had not seen before included Aleutian Tern, Red-faced Cormorant,
Kittlitz's Murrelet, Willow Ptarmigan and Spectacled Eider.  We saw all four
eiders at Barrow, but only rather distant Kings and some flyover Commons at
Point Barrow.  We saw very cooperative Spectacled and Steller's.

We could not find any Smith's Longspurs at the traditional spots at the east
end of Denali Hwy, nor could we find any Rock Ptarmigan or Wheatears.
Weather started out unusually cold and moist but was nice for most of the
trip.

Our most exotic bird was a White Wagtail at Barrow (unless you count
Parakeet Auklets flying around the boat at Kenai), but the rarest bird for
its location was probably the Bonaparte's Gull at Barrow, perhaps a first
local record.  There was also a Varied Thrush at Barrow.

It was fun to see shorebirds on the breeding grounds.  Western is rare at
Barrow but there were loads of pectorals (displaying constantly) and Semi
Sandpipers, and small numbers of White-rumped Sandpipers.  Red and
Red-necked phalarope were the other common shorebirds.  Westerns must breed
a little earlier at their slightly more southerly locales; there were no
hatched Semis or Pecs and the ones we saw were obviously not heading south
anytime soon.

Magnus and I hope to have a presentation on the trip at the September SWOC
meeting in Eugene.

-- 
Alan Contreras
EUGENE, OREGON
acontrer at mindspring.com