Monday, September 22, 2008

Birds of our Alaska Honeymoon


So here are the birds that put me over the 600 mark on my ABA list:
#594 - Northwestern Crow
#595 - Spruce Grouse (a rather unexpected but very welcome bird, seeing as I lived in NH for a few years and never stumbled across one before!)
#596 - Trumpeter Swan
#597 - Fork-tailed Storm Petrel
#598 - Marbled Murrelet
#599 - Wandering Tattler (another unexpected bird - flew past and perched on an outlet pipe right next to the dock!)
#600 - Pink-footed Shearwater
#601 - Sabine's Gull (yet another unexpected bird. It flew past our balcony as I was walking out. Couldn't believe my eyes - my first thought it was just another immature kittiwake that looked a little odd, but stayed within sight long enough to confirm!)
#602 - Cassin's Auklet


Other birds of note we did see: American Bald Eagles (have to be blind to miss 'em up there), Ravens (ditto), White-winged Crossbills, Glaucous-winged & Mew Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwake, Pelagic Cormorants, Common Murres, both Pomerine & Long-tailed Jaegers, and thousands upon thousands of Surf Scoters.

Birds that we missed that I was hoping for: Willow & Rock Ptarmagins, Horned & Tufted Puffins, Albatross of any sort (not really expected though), Short-tailed Shearwater (actually had a few potential candidates, but were too far away to rule out Sooty which were also seen closer) Kittlitz's & Ancient Murrelets, Rhino Auklet (again, had good potential for a few, but just couldn't make out enough detail in the fog to be positive)

As for non-avian wildlife, we had a few misses - no bears (although often evidence of very recent bears) or Orca/Killer Whales. We did have great looks at Humpback Whales, Stellar Sea Lions, Otters, Moose, a few distant Dall Sheep, and a Porcupine that sat in a pine tree eating needles relatively close to a viewing platform for the Mendenhall Glacier.