Tour Narrative
This year’s Gambell tour produced nearly all of the hoped-for species, including an adult Ivory Gull and all four species of eider, including record numbers of both Spectacled and King, with mroe than 2,000 of the latter in a single day. Other highlights included at least seven Dovekies, Arctic and Yellow-billed Loons, and good numbers of White Wagtails. There was a scattering of Asian species, too, including a male Tufted Duck, four Lesser Sand-Plovers and several Common Ringed Plovers, two Red-necked Stints, three Ruffs, a Slaty-backed Gull, a “Eurasian” Barn Swallow, a lovely male Rustic Bunting, a female Brambling, and a drab female-type Common Rosefinch. There was a selection of North American strays as well.
The Nome extension produced two Emperor Geese, numerous Rock and Willow Ptarmigans, a swimming Arctic Loon, Aleutian Terns, nesting Peregrine and Gyrfalcons, good views of singing Bluethroats, and close views of several Bristle-thighed Curlews, including birds in display flight.
Our group got together the first evening in Anchorage for dinner and some birding around Westchester Lagoon, where we counted some 22 Hudsonian Godwits and a selection of other species including side-by-side comparisons of Greater and Lesser Scaup and many Red-necked Grebes. Other species of note included a pair of Surf Scoters, nesting Bald Eagles, a Greater Yellowlegs, five migrant Whimbrels, and a Black-capped Chickadee. Near our hotel we got brief views of a male Barrow’s Goldeneye and watched a Hairy Woodpecker visit a nest hole.
Our trip to Nome the next morning was on time, as was our flight to Gambell. The beautifully clear weather gave us views of the entire south side of the Seward Peninsula, the Diomede Islands, and the entire coast of the Chukotski Peninsula, Russian Far East.
We landed at Gambell in clear and nearly calm conditions. Gambell is known as one of the best places to see many Arctic species and (in most years) a variety of species best known from Asia. We did very well in the former category, seeing all of the target species but Emperor Goose—we would later find a single pair in Nome on the extension. Highlights were record numbers of eiders of all four species, including over 2,000 King Eiders on one day and hundreds of Spectacled Eiders, a few of which passed the point at close range. We also had superb views of Steller’s Eider.
Loons put on a fair show, with up to 15 Yellow-billed seen daily. We also had four Arctic Loons. Alcids, as always, were abundant, and in addition to a few passing Dovekies, we counted seven up on the cliffs. Black Guillemots were slightly more numerous than usual. Most notable was that everyone got to see the adult Ivory Gull that turned up one morning at the point.
In the Asian category, we had both Common Ringed and Lesser Sand-Plover, with at least four of the latter; Paul Lehman later found a nest of Common Ringed. Other Asian species included a pair of Eurasian Wigeon and a male Tufted Duck passing the point, two Red-necked Stints, three female Ruffs, a Slaty-backed Gull, a white-bellied “Eurasian” Barn Swallow, a female Stonechat of the eastern maura group, many White Wagtails, a beautiful male Rustic Bunting, a female Brambling, and a female or immature male Common Rosefinch on our last day. North American rarities included Wilson’s Snipe, a second-cycle brachyrhynchus Mew Gull, several Hermit Thrushes, and a a “Sooty” Fox Sparrow (“Red” Fox Sparrows are the nesting Fox Sparrow on the adjacent Seward Peninsula, while “Sooty” Fox Sparrows nest no closer than the Alaska Peninsula hundreds of miles to the south). Other highlights at Gambell included two Bearded Seals, many Gray Whales, and a pod of passing Orcas (Killer Whales) on our last evening.
After a final dinner in Nome, half the group departed for Anchorage with our outstanding Gambell cook, Rich Hoyer. The rest of us birded the next three days at Nome. In addition to the two Emperor Geese, highlights included a swimming Arctic Loon at Safety Sound, Rock and Willow Ptarmigans, nesting Peregrines and Gyrfalcons, Aleutian Terns, singing Bluethroats, and outstanding views of breeding plumaged male American Golden, Pacific Golden, and Black-bellied Plovers. And of course we had excellent views and wonderful auditory displays of several Bristle-thighed Curlews near Coffee Dome on the Kougarok Road.
We won’t soon forget the four-plus-minute chase of some hapless passerine by an intent Northern Shrike, with many skyward ascents hundreds of feet up followed by plunges to the ground. We did not witness the outcome, but my bet is on the shrike. Also of interest were the Red-necked Phalaropes on the Sanuk River west of Nome feeding on small fish fry. We watched one bird grab three fish in well less than a minute. The literature tells us that this is a rare behavior, but our birds on the crystal-clear and fast-flowing Sanuk seemed completely adept at securing their prey.
- Jon Dunn
Updated: November 2010