Glacier Bay 6/12--MARBLED MURRELET, TUFTED PUFFIN, Pacific Loon, Pelagic Cormorant, Black-legged Kittiwake, Arctic Tern, Common Murre

More than half the species we saw today were lifers or FOY.

I can't begin to express just how amazing Glacier Bay is. It was definitely the highlight of the entire trip. Shari took lots of photos and I'll just let them try to speak to the bay's magnificence.

Grand Pacific Glacier, 2 miles wide, 42 miles long.

Margerie Glacier 250 ft high

Margerie Glacier spewing ice into the bay

Iceberg

Bald Eagle on iceberg

Black-legged Kittiwake

The birding highlights were the 2 lifers--a total of 7 TUFTED PUFFINS in 3 groups--not "field guide looks" but we saw them well enough to i.d. them both flying & in the water, & MARBLED MURRELETS--little flying footballs of the sea.
Glacier Bay
White-winged Scoter  27
Pacific Loon  2
Pelagic Cormorant  20
Bald Eagle  6
Black-legged Kittiwake  100
Bonaparte's Gull  1
Glaucous-winged Gull  15
Arctic Tern  20
Common Murre  1
Pigeon Guillemot  3
MARBLED MURRELET  10
TUFTED PUFFIN 7

Sitka 6/13--RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, Swainson's Thrush, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Townsend's Warbler, Lincoln's Sparrow

Photo: Shari Zirlin

Sitka is, let us say, an unprepossessing town, too small to have a cruise ship dock--we had to be "tendered in" by one of the lifeboats that do double-duty as water taxis.

Shari had signed us up for a birding watching tour and while I realize that these sorts of shore excursions are geared toward the lowest common denominator, I didn't expect the tour guide to be in that cohort. Not only did I know more about birding than she did, I knew more about Alaska birding than she did.

However, get us to a place with birds and we'll do okay. The trip was to a wetlands of the Starrigavan Estuary. They were especially wet since it rained almost the entire time we were there. We heard lots of birds, starting in the parking lot. No matter what we heard, the guide identified it as Swainson's Thrush. I did hear a thrush very similar to a Veery. According to Sibley, that was the Swainson's.

The big moment of the day was when I saw a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER land on a tree trunk, giving us "field guide looks." There were a few serious birders on the trip, & one of them, Anne, from Texas, was as thrilled to see it as we were. One more--Williamson's--and we'll have all the world's sapsuckers.

There were a couple of novice birders from Singapore with us--everything they saw was a life bird. I envied them, in a way. A sweet moment was when one of them spotted a Lincoln's Sparrow sitting on the branch of a tree. 
As I said, the weather was lousy--they don't call it a rain forest for nothing--but after the trip we made our way via shuttle bus to Sitka National Historic Park--site of a great battle between the Russians and Native People (guess who won) to look totem poles that have been there for about 100 years. There we happy to find a few Chestnut-backed Chickadees and 1 spectacular Townsend's Warbler. The warbler was hopping around in low brush and branches & I was looking through two sets of rain splattered lenses, but all at once it popped into view, perfect & bright, & I almost jumped out of my shoes.

So given the conditions, I thought Sitka was successful & productive stop.

Sitka

Common Merganser	Starrigavan Estuary
Common Loon	Starrigavan Estuary
Great Blue Heron	Starrigavan Estuary
Bald Eagle	Outside Crescent Bay
Belted Kingfisher	Starrigavan Estuary
RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER	Starrigavan Estuary
Common Raven	Starrigavan Estuary
Tree Swallow	Starrigavan Estuary
Barn Swallow	Starrigavan Estuary
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	Sitka Nat. Historical Park
Swainson's Thrush	Starrigavan Estuary
Hermit Thrush	Starrigavan Estuary
American Robin	Starrigavan Estuary
Varied Thrush	Starrigavan Estuary
Townsend's Warbler	Sitka Nat. Historical Park
Lincoln's Sparrow	Starrigavan Estuary

Here I am, low man on the etc. 

British Columbia 6/15--BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, RHINOCEROS AUKLET, CASSIN'S AUKLET

We made a stop in Ketchikan on the 14th, another dreary Alaskan town surviving almost solely on tourism, where we toured a tiny part of the Tongass National Forest on an island that we reached by zodiac boat. In the picture, I'm not that happy & Shari isn't upset.

Eagles were everywhere. I was amused that by now it hadn't occurred to the rest of our tour mates that eagles in Alaska are as common as pigeons in New York. No one (except us) gets tired of seeing them and the guides seem determined to point out every one of them.

After Ketchikan we retraced our route down the west coast the British Columbia islands we'd passed on the way north. Early in the morning I was again taking my vigorous constitutional when I saw a huge bird flying near the boat. I got good looks at its features, particularly its white tail coverts--BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS. Another passenger saw me looking intently at the bird and asked what I was seeing. When I told her a bird she was disappointed--the people on the cruise with binoculars were mostly looking for killer whales another thing that amused me. It isn't like the whale is going to floating on top of the sea like a boat. You see a tail fin, you see the top of the head when it spouts, you see a lot of splashing. Not interesting to me.

Later in the day, Shari was sitting on the veranda when she banged on the glass door to call me. She'd spotted a huge bird sailing almost below our railing. My first reaction was fulmar, but after we looked at the pictures, we realized she had gotten her lifer Black-footed Albatross--this one was a juvenile since it had no white on its tail, but we did see some white on its face, not visible in the photo.

Farther south we began seeing flocks of little black birds too far out to identify, but I was pretty sure they were auklets. I did see one Common Murre fairly decently. Finally we saw two black birds a little closer in than they'd been earlier. Shari took some photos. One bird had a stripe on its face & an orange bill--according to the book Parakeet Auklet, but according to eBird, not there in that season. The only other auklet with a stripe is RHINOCEROUS AUKLET. Floating nearby was another auklet, with a gray bill--this, I'm certain, was the common CASSIN'S AUKLET. I'd sure like to see them better and have the feeling I'm going to be returning to the Pacific Northwest to do so.

We made a brief stop in Victoria. While Shari went to tour the famous Butchart Gardens, which she raved about, I took a long walk from the dock to Beacon Hill Park. Nothing of note there, but I did add a couple of birds to the trip list.
British Columbia

Canada Goose	Ogden Point Breakwater
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS		Aboard MS Westerdam
Glaucous-winged Gull		Juan de Fuca Strait
Common Murre		Juan de Fuca Strait
Pigeon Guillemot		Ogden Point Breakwater
CASSIN'S AUKLET		Juan de Fuca Strait
RHINOCEROS AUKLET		Juan de Fuca Strait
Rock Pigeon		Ogden Point Breakwater
Northwestern Crow		Beacon Hill Park
Common Raven		Beacon Hill Park
Barn Swallow		Ogden Point Breakwater
American Robin		Beacon Hill Park
European Starling		Beacon Hill Park
Song Sparrow		Beacon Hill Park
House Finch		Beacon Hill Park
House Sparrow		Beacon Hill Park

Lakehurst NAES 6/7--UPLAND SANDPIPER, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, 2 FOY

A couple of times in June of every year, NJ Audubon runs a trip to the Lakehurst Naval Aviation Engineering Station (think: Hindenburg disaster--"Oh, the humanity!"). Since it is a military base (part of the vast Fort Dix-McGuire Airbase complex) this is about the only time a birder can get onto the grasslands there and see the rare breeders that are found on one of the few remaining habitats of this type in the state. Shari & I have always wanted to go, but when we lived in Brooklyn, the logistics never worked out. Now we live 15 minutes away from the base. Its blimps fly over our house. The logistics worked out just fine this morning.

About 20 birders caravanned through the base, escorted by the base naturalist and one of its foresters. They first led us to the the "drop circle" a huge expanse used for parachute practice. Almost immediately a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW was noted, sitting and singing on the branch of a tiny pine tree in the middle of the field. Grasshopper Sparrows are hard to find in NJ and this was the first lifer of the day for us. Soon, a few Horned Larks were spotted on the road that we had just come in on, and then, behind us, an Eastern Meadowlark was spotted in some low grass in the field.

Then we saw the bird we had really come for: UPLAND SANDPIPER was heard calling as it flew along the tree line. 2nd lifer. We got decent looks at it in flight and then another. Walking back toward where the Horned Larks were we all scanned the field and soon we found one standing up in the grass. We could see its tiny head and long, and when the light it just right, its yellow bill. Pete Bacinski, of NJ Audubon said that in NJ the only places that they breed were there in Lakehurst, Atlantic City Airport, another airport I forget and more than probably Newark Airport! Airports with their open necessary open spaces provide perfect habitat for this non-shore shorebird.

We got a treat when another naturalist on the base drove up with the task of banding juvenile Grasshopper Sparrows. She marched through the field to the previous marked nest and took 2 of 4 sparrows out of the nest, placed them in a sack and came back to the road to measure and band them. One weighed 14 1/2 grams, the other a pinch over 13 grams. You could mail both of them with a first class stamp!

While she was walking back, she accidentally came too close to another specie's nest and flush a Common Nighthawk, affording us just fantastic looks at the bird with it sweeping flight and tell-tale white spots in the middle of the wings. She carefully place an orange flag near the nest so she could come back and band the babies in that one too.

While we were in that area a couple of more "Uppies" flew by very close and we studied their distinct flight pattern, a sort of stuttering flapping followed by a glide.

The caravan continued along a road with forest on one side and an open field full of utility poles on the other. Pete knew that it was a good spot to find American Kestrel and sure enough, one flew on to the top of a pole and posed while we all broke out the scopes. Just to the right, on a guy wire, a good-looking Eastern Bluebird perched.

Our last stop was a pond with a bog nearby where we saw Least Tern flying over the bog (very rare this far inland, though I wasn't surprised considering that we were probably about 5 miles away from Horicon Lake where I've been seeing them this spring). In a tall tree near where we all parked there was the most vociferous, multi-song Northern Mockingbird I'd ever heard. You could practice ear birding just listening to that mocker. It even mimicked a catbird--that I'd never heard--one mimid impersonating another.

A truly great morning of birding and I look forward to going back next year.

Our day list:

23 species
Canada Goose  11
Wild Turkey  5
Great Blue Heron  1    f/o Cathedral of the Air parking lot
Turkey Vulture  4
Bald Eagle  1
American Kestrel  1
UPLAND SANDPIPER  5
Least Tern  1
Mourning Dove  2
Common Nighthawk  2
Eastern Kingbird  1
Horned Lark  5
Tree Swallow  5
Barn Swallow  4
Eastern Bluebird  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard
Eastern Towhee  1    Heard
Chipping Sparrow  1    Heard
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW  5    Watched as 2 juveniles were banded
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Eastern Meadowlark  1
Common Grackle  1

Brig 6/2--CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW + 4 FOY

Sometimes the day just gets away from you in a positive way. The original plan yesterday was to run down to Forsythe-Barnegat to see if we could find the 3 Black-necked Stilts that had been reported on Friday, perhaps check out Webb Mill Reservoir as a new birding site, then go up to Toms River to buy kitty litter and a bottle brush. The weather was great, the sun was out despite the predictions of rain and halfway down the Parkway Shari suggested Brigantine after we went to Barnegat. Let's see...Brigantine, bottle brush...Brigantine, bottle brush...while the choice was agonizing we opted for Brigantine.

At Forsythe-Barnegat we didn't find the stilts and speculated that the line of thunderstorms Friday night and early Saturday morning might have blown them away, but we did find some interesting birds including an out of season Northern Shoveler and the first Black-crowned Night-heron I've ever seen in Ocean County. The lacunae in my Ocean County list are wide and somewhat embarrassing, but I'm slowly filling them in.

We had 18 species in the half-hour or so we were there.
Canada Goose  9
Mute Swan  21
Mallard  5
Northern Shoveler  1    Across from Barnegat Beach.
Great Egret  3
Snowy Egret  1
Little Blue Heron  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Herring Gull  2
Least Tern  1
Mourning Dove  2
Tree Swallow  1
Carolina Wren  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Common Grackle  10


After a loop around Brigantine where we found 63 species we were eating lunch at the picnic tables when the day really got away from us. Shari saw Pete Bacinski of Jersey Audubon in the parking lot and went over to say  hello. Pete was there to lead an afternoon/evening caravan around the drive and  there was still room for a couple of more people so we immediately signed on, especially when we heard one of the target birds for the evening. 

Shorebirds had been sparse when we went around the first time in contrast to last week when there had been thousands of them, but we did find one Whimbrel standing in a tuft of tall grass. Pete had made a preliminary trip earlier and also hadn't seen much, but a great birder like him can tease out birds that mere mortals can't find, so he managed to turn up a few White-rumped Sandpipers, some Semipalmated Plovers and a Dunlin out of the few flocks of sandpipers that we saw, along with 3 more Whimbrels on the 2nd loop around. 

May Summary

With five states worth of birding in May we managed to find a fairly satisfying 127 species, 39 FOY birds including, for me, 1 lifer (the first lifer of the year--the more you get, the harder it is to get them), the BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH at Chincoteague.

Last night's Sora was probably the biggest surprise of the month, if not the year. No, I take that back. Finding a Northern Bobwhite across the street was a bigger surprise.

Tricolored Heron, Chincoteague
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Counties birded:
Delaware: Kent
Maryland: Worcester
New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Ocean
New York: Dutchess, New York, Orange, Ulster
Virginia: Accomack

Species                    First Sighting

Canada Goose          Crestwood Village

Mute Swan          Winding Hills County Park

American Black Duck          Chincoteague--Wildlife Loop

Mallard          Crestwood Village

Hooded Merganser          Comfort Suites

Northern Bobwhite          35 Sunset Rd

Wild Turkey          Winding Hills County Park

Double-crested Cormorant          Walkway over the Hudson

Great Blue Heron          Vanderbilt Mansion

Great Egret          Double Trouble State Park

Snowy Egret          Cattus Island County Park

Little Blue Heron          Comfort Suites

Tricolored Heron          Cattus Island County Park

Cattle Egret          Chincoteague--Marsh Trail

Green Heron          Chincoteague--Wildlife Loop

Black-crowned Night-Heron          Brigantine

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron          Great Bay Bvld. WMA

White Ibis          Chincoteague--Woodland Trail

Glossy Ibis          Chincoteague--Black Duck Marsh

Black Vulture          Warren Grove--FAA Tower

Turkey Vulture          Crestwood Village

Osprey          Cattus Island County Park

Bald Eagle          Cape May Ferry Terminal

Cooper's Hawk          Pleasure Grounds Park

Red-tailed Hawk          Vanderbilt Mansion

Merlin          Whiting WMA

Peregrine Falcon          Brigantine

Clapper Rail          Little Toms Cove

Sora          Horicon Lake

Common Gallinule          Brigantine

Black-bellied Plover          Chincoteague--Wildlife Loop

Semipalmated Plover          Chincoteague--Wildlife Loop

Piping Plover          Assateague Island

American Oystercatcher          Comfort Suites

Black-necked Stilt          Bombay Hook NWR

Spotted Sandpiper          Pleasure Grounds Park

Greater Yellowlegs          Chincoteague--Black Duck Marsh

Willet          Toms Cove Visitor Center

Lesser Yellowlegs          Double Trouble State Park

Marbled Godwit          Chincoteague--Swan Cove

Ruddy Turnstone          Toms Cove Visitor Center

Sanderling          Assateague Island

Semipalmated Sandpiper          Chincoteague--Wildlife Loop

Least Sandpiper          Chincoteague--Marsh Trail

White-rumped Sandpiper          Brigantine

Dunlin          Chincoteague--Wildlife Loop

Short-billed Dowitcher          Chincoteague--Black Duck Marsh

Bonaparte's Gull          Cape May Ferry Terminal

Laughing Gull          Horicon Lake

Ring-billed Gull          Walkway over the Hudson

Herring Gull          Cattus Island County Park

Great Black-backed Gull          Cape May Ferry Terminal

Least Tern          Horicon Lake

Gull-billed Tern          Brigantine

Caspian Tern          Brigantine

Common Tern          Assateague Island

Forster's Tern          Comfort Suites

Black Skimmer          Assateague Island

Rock Pigeon          Warren Grove

Mourning Dove          Crestwood Village

Barred Owl          Bombay Hook NWR

Eastern Whip-poor-will          35 Sunset Rd

Chimney Swift          Montgomery

Ruby-throated Hummingbird          35 Sunset Rd

Belted Kingfisher          Horicon Lake

Red-bellied Woodpecker          Crestwood Village

Downy Woodpecker          Crestwood Village

Northern Flicker          Whiting WMA

Pileated Woodpecker          Walkway over the Hudson

Eastern Wood-Pewee          Winding Hills County Park

Acadian Flycatcher          Chincoteague--Black Duck Trail

Willow Flycatcher          Bombay Hook NWR

Eastern Phoebe          Warren Grove

Great Crested Flycatcher          Double Trouble State Park

Eastern Kingbird          Whiting WMA

Warbling Vireo          Whiting WMA

Blue Jay          Crestwood Village

American Crow          Whiting WMA

Fish Crow          Crestwood Village

Northern Rough-winged Swallow          Whiting WMA

Purple Martin          Main St., Chincoteague

Tree Swallow          Crestwood Village

Barn Swallow          Whiting WMA

Carolina Chickadee          Crestwood Village

Black-capped Chickadee          Pleasure Grounds Park

Tufted Titmouse          Crestwood Village

Red-breasted Nuthatch          Crestwood Village

White-breasted Nuthatch          35 Sunset Rd

BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH  Chincoteague--Woodland Trail

Carolina Wren          Crestwood Village

House Wren          35 Sunset Rd

Marsh Wren          Bombay Hook NWR

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher          Whiting WMA

Eastern Bluebird          Whiting WMA

Veery          Double Trouble State Park

Wood Thrush          Whiting WMA

American Robin          Crestwood Village

Gray Catbird          Crestwood Village

Northern Mockingbird          Lakewood

Brown Thrasher          Double Trouble State Park

European Starling          Warren Grove

Cedar Waxwing          Horicon Lake

Ovenbird          Whiting WMA

Black-and-white Warbler          Whiting WMA

Common Yellowthroat          Crestwood Village

Hooded Warbler          Double Trouble State Park

Magnolia Warbler          Chincoteague--Woodland Trail

Yellow Warbler          Chincoteague--Woodland Trail

Pine Warbler          Crestwood Village

Yellow-rumped Warbler          Whiting WMA

Prairie Warbler          Whiting WMA

Eastern Towhee          Crestwood Village

Chipping Sparrow          Crestwood Village

Song Sparrow          Crestwood Village

White-throated Sparrow          35 Sunset Rd

Northern Cardinal          Crestwood Village

Rose-breasted Grosbeak          35 Sunset Rd

Blue Grosbeak          Chincoteague--Black Duck Trail

Indigo Bunting          Chincoteague--Marsh Trail

Red-winged Blackbird          Whiting WMA

Common Grackle          Crestwood Village

Boat-tailed Grackle          Chincoteague--Wildlife Loop

Brown-headed Cowbird          Crestwood Village

Orchard Oriole          Chincoteague--Black Duck Trail

House Finch          Crestwood Village

American Goldfinch          Crestwood Village

House Sparrow          35 Sunset Rd Great Egrets, Chincoteague Photo: Shari Zirlin