Northern Hawk Owl, photo by Chris Wood.

The past ten days have brought the first signs of what may shape up to be a good winter for northern owls. Snowy Owls have been found in Massachusetts, Maine, and Minnesota, with Northern Hawk Owl reports coming from Minnesota as well. In the past, such early reports of these species have often presaged strong flights later in the season.

Even more exciting are early indications of a major movement of Boreal Owls into Minnesota. As many as fourteen (!) were banded in a single late-October night in Duluth. Minnesota in Winter is probably the best place in North America to see this small owl, and it looks like 2009 could be the year to do it!

We’ll be following any invasions of these and other boreal species carefully all winter, and will keep WINGS clients up to date here at The Wingbeat.

Ornithomedia reports the discovery of a “significant” colony of Ivory Gulls in Siberia’s Kara Sea. The birds were found on the Geiberg Islands, in the Vilkitski Strait between Severnaya Zemlya and the Taimyr Peninsula. There’s no word yet on how large this new colony is, but with a rapidly declining population estimated at only about 11,000 pairs, this charismatic species needs every bit of help it can get.

This adult Ivory Gull was a highlight of our 2007 tour to Newfoundland; we’ve also encountered the species at Gambell.  Photo: Bruce Mactavish.

A Wandering-type Albatross was photographed off Oregon this past weekend. Though it may ultimately prove impossible to determine the precise identity of this bird–as many as four species may be involved in the complex–this is a definite “mega,” one of the most amazing records so far from a very good autumn in North America.

Senior Leader Paul Lehman writes from Gambell with the latest sightings–and some disturbing news:

After eight straight days of blowing northerlies, we finally had a calm day yesterday–and the dense fog rolled in! But we also all got to see a fairly cooperative SIBERIAN ACCENTOR in the far boneyard area. This species has proved to be annual in the fall, with 14 records since 1999. A trickle of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and pipits also continued.

Yesterday, September 14, I also counted 127 Ancient Murrelets passing the point, blowing out of the water my previous one-day high count of 31 birds. These birds are all or almost all post-breeding dispersers from the Aleutians region far to the south; a few may now be breeding slightly farther north in the Pribilofs. Annual in very small numbers, one or two Red-necked Grebes are also around.

The news from the Aleutians is not good. It has been very slow out at Shemya the past two weeks, with nothing particularly good to report.

And the news from Adak is dire: the “town” has basically run out of money, energy, etc., and they are basically closing the place down. Whether this is a “long-term temporary” situation or  permanent I’m not sure. I had heard rumors of this a few days ago, and then there was a story to this effect in an Alaska newspaper today. In any case, if there’s not a turnaround, there may be no more bird tours to Adak.

Only a birder would complain about there being “no good storms”! Paul Lehman updates us from Gambell:

This year’s weather is the WORST I’ve had here in the more than ten years I’ve been coming to Gambell in fall: since my arrival on August 22, we’ve had no good storms and no appreciable wind from anywhere between the W and SE–the best here for Asian and North American landbird vagrants.

And so, despite depressingly steady 20-25+ mph N/NE winds for a bunch of days now, I’m quite happy with what we’ve seen so far this year given the lack of meteorological support. On Friday we had the fifth Dusky Warbler of the season, plus two brief Bramblings, the first of the season. From the Alaska mainland, A very wayward Red-breasted Nuthatch showed up Thursday from the Alaska mainland (we get one or two here about every other year), as well as another White-crowned Sparrow.

From the seawatch, Thursday’s Common Merganser of the North American race was the first ever in fall for Gambell and St. Lawrence Island. The first half of last week saw a large push of 32+ Ancient Murrelets, and another Kittlitz’s Murrelet appeared on September 10. Typically peaking in mid-September, Short-tailed Shearwaters have been seen in numbers of up to 500,000 per day, and we’ve recorded several more Yellow-billed Loons and Spectacled Eider.

Recent miscellanea have included a McKay’s-type Bunting on Thursday, the presumably last migrant Bluethroats, Arctic Warblers, and two White Wagtails still hanging on. There have also been several more Red-throated and japonicus American Pipits.

Birders visiting Nome since the end of August have turned up as many as three Northern Hawk Owls along the road to Safety Sound. An even better wanderer was the Gray Jay seen perched on a pole at the Nome River mouth (!) on September 8. And there have also been the “usual” one or two Arctic Loons in the usual area on Safety Sound, several Spectacled Eiders, Emperor Geese, Slaty-backed Gulls, and Yellow-billed Loons, plus a couple of Red-throated Pipits.

Senior Leader Gavin Bieber writes from Alaska:

Late the evening of September 10, a large, dark, pot-bellied snipe was flushed out of the cut on Hutchinson Hill, the northeast point of St. Paul Island. We quickly relocated the bird on top of the hill, from where it flushed south along the road. Relatively good digiscoped images of the bill and facial pattern were obtained, along with distant photos of the bird standing.

Probable Solitary Snipe, Alaska. Photo: Gavin Bieber.

The large size, relatively rufous and gray unpatterned back, light mantle lines, dark breast, long bill, continuous dark line of even width through the eye, poorly marked facial stripes, and heavy flight are all good matches for Solitary Snipe, Gallinago solitaria–a species never before recorded in North America.

Comments on the photos and identification will be appreciated, particularly insights into distinguishing the similar Latham’s Snipe.

Gary Rosenberg’s tour to the canyonlands of Arizona and Utah has already turned up some nice surprises. On Tuesday he and the group discovered two Common Terns and a juvenile Sabine’s Gull; yesterday they found no fewer than three Sabine’s Gulls in extreme northeastern Arizona, along with a Black-bellied Plover. These are good birds all anywhere in the interior west, but especially so in the arid Four Corners region.

And now on to the White Mountains!

A Variegated Flycatcher was photographed today in Franklin County, Washington. Though obviously very rare, this species has become one of the more expected South American vagrants north, with records as far afield as Maine.

Useful remarks on the distribution and identification of this and other, related and similar species can be found in an article by George Armistead and Jon Feenstra here.

Paul Lehman writes on another good day at Gambell:

Today has been calm and partly cloudy. We first found a Pechora Pipit in the circular boneyard; everyone finally got views of it ranging from adequate to very good, and some fuzzy photos will be posted soon.

And then we found Dusky Warbler #4 of the past few days, this one in the near boneyard. Our attention was called elsewhere, though, by the discovery of a SIBERIAN STONECHAT, only the second fall record here.  Everyone got to see it, and many digiscoped photos were taken, with some to be posted in the near future.

The Brown Shrike appears to be gone. One of the other previous Dusky Warblers continues.

There’s still some birding time left today….

Senior Leader Paul Lehman writes–with characteristic understatement:

September 3 was a very good day at Gambell, with a WILLOW WARBLER all day, moving all over the near boneyard, finally seen by everyone; this was the second here this fall and only the seventh overall for Gambell and for North America. Alan Schmierer has posted a photo of this individual.

Another Old World warbler, a DUSKY WARBLER was found in the far boneyard this afternoon, where it was seen by all but usually only in flight. The BROWN SHRIKE continued for a second day, and was slightly more cooperative and photogenic than yesterday; photos will be posted soon.

A LITTLE BUNTING was seen briefly by several birders along the lower mountain slope, and a COMMON SNIPE seen well in flight from both the circular and near boneyards was only the third fall record here, about equal to the number of autumn records of Wilson’s Snipe and of snipe sp.

We also made a good count of 19 Red-throated Pipits and several Bluethroats and Gray-cheeked Thrushes on this partly cloudy day with light to borderline-moderate north winds.