Paul Lehman writes from Gambell:

Tuesday we had NE/NNE winds of 25-30 mph, and I didn’t have too much hope for any Asian landbirds. But then in the late morning I found a BROWN SHRIKE near the far bonyard. I turned to yell to the 15 birders near me, looked back, and the bird was gone.

It took a good two hours to finally re-find it, in the same area, and the 30 or so birders now on the island have all seen it.

The other “big” news, literally, was yesterday’s flight of 980 Emperor Geese, the largest one-day count I’ve ever had here (previous high was 650). Other recent dribs and drabs of interest the past three days include a Kittlitz’s Murrelet (I see one or two per autumn), two more Spectacled Eiders (one of which was dabbling with Pintails), 3 more Ancient Murrelets, a one-day count of 550,000 Crested Auklets, an apparent adult smithsonianus Herring Gull (I’ve seen about five or so out here), a total of 30 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, several more Bluethroats, and several wanderers from the Alaska mainland: Wilson’s Warbler, Red Fox Sparrow, two more Sooty Fox Sparrows, and White-crowned Sparrow.