Subject: Alaska trip
Date: Jun 22 09:44:38 2000
From: Sherry Hagen - birder at webcombo.net


My husband and I made a trip to Alaska on June 7th to the 17th.We saw 133
species and 21 lifers. Which doesn't sound like a lot but Alaska is like
going to different areas of the rest of the US. You have to go to this state
to see this and that state to see that. In Alaska you have to fly here and
there for different things. We were a little late for the rarities which we
know but couldn't get in any sooner to Gambell because of the tour groups.
We missed a few by a day or two but we were happy with what we saw. We went
to Nome, Gambell (St. Lawarence Island), and Kenai Pennisula area (Homer and
Seward). Gambell was a very interesting place to visit with the Eskimo
villiage and way of life. It was cold (barely above freezing and windy (30
mph or so) there and then the fog set in and we weren't sure we were going
to get off the island for it can be foggy for 8 days straight and Bering
Air's little planes don't land in fog. The 24 hours of daylight was
different and I loved birding at 10:30 PM or later.

Here are our lifers from the trip:
Short-tailed Shearwater (Arden's 650th !!) last new one we saw
Red-faced Cormornant (My 650th !!!)
Steller's Eider
Spruce Grouse
Willow Ptarmigan (lots)
Long-tailed Jaeger (lots)
Aleutian Tern
Dovekie (we got lucky on those since there were only 11 on the island and we
saw two)
Thick-billed Murre
Parakeet Auklet
Crested Auklet (lots on Gambell)
Least Auklet (lots on Gambell)
Horned Puffin (lots on Gambell)
White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail (ditto)
Arctic Warbler
Bluethroat
Northern Wheatear
American Tree Sparrow (lots)
Hoary Redpoll

Other birds we saw that were of interest were:
Arctic Loon (saw a few times either in the water or flying)
Common Eider (lots)
Bar-tailed Godwit
Glaucous Gulls (by the hundreds)
Black-legged Kittiwakes (by the thousands)
Arctic Terns (lots)
Northern Hawk Owls (they were moving through and let you get close up)
Three-toed Woodpecker (only woodpecker we saw)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (lots and singing)
Northern Waterthrush (singing)
Common Redpoll (everywhere)

It was fun to see some of the birds that are common winter birds here, up
there on their breeding grounds singing and in different habitat than we we
them... like Wandering Tattlers in the icy mountain (or hills) rivers

O> Sherry Hagen
_/_)_ Vancouver, WA
/ birder at webcombo.net