St. Paul Island

For those birders out there wanting to go to the Pribilof Islands, here is the latest RBA:

RBA * Alaska * St. Paul Island, Pribilofs * June 30, 2008 * AKSPI 08.06.30 Hello Birders, this is the St. Paul Island rare bird alert for the week of June 23-June 29, 2008 sponsored by St. Paul Island Tour. The following sequence of sightings is in taxonomic order; an asterisk denotes a species of less than annual occurrence or one of particular note. Birds Mentioned: Cackling Goose Eurasian Wigeon Lesser Scaup White-winged Scoter Black Scoter YELLOW-BILLED LOON Short-tailed Shearwater Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel Western Sandpiper Red Phalarope Slaty-backed Gull Herring Gull (ssp. vegae) Glaucous Gull Ancient Murrelet Arctic Tern Bank Swallow Common Redpoll This week was marked by increasing temperatures, light northerly winds, and some extended clear periods. Translated: We briefly saw the sun! New birds were scarce this week but the first few southbound shorebirds were located. WATERFOWL On the 23rd a flock of 8 Cackling Geese were observed flying over the island. A pair of Lesser Scaup continued on Polovina Lake until the 23th. Other waterfowl on St Paul this week included Eurasian Wigeon, Black Scoter, and White-winged Scoter. The alternate plumaged YELLOW-BILLED LOON off Webster seawatch was present intermittently throughout the week. SEABIRDS & GULLS Short-tailed Shearwaters were seen daily in small numbers at multiple locations throughout the week. The highlight of the week was the appearance of several Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels off East Landing on the 26th and 27th. A second cycle Vega Gull and 3-4 immature Slaty-backed Gulls were present throughout the week allowing close study. An interesting 3rd cycle dark-mantled gull, identified as a probable Slaty-backed X Glaucous-winged hybrid, was at East Landing this week. A few Glaucous Gulls were also present. An immature Arctic Tern was seen at East Landing on the 24th. SHOREBIRDS Several Western Sandpipers, likely southbound migrants, appeared on Webster Lake on 06/26 and continued throughout the week. A handful of Red Phalaropes were seen around the island this week, also probable southbound individuals. LANDBIRDS & PASSERINES 1-2 Bank Swallows were present all week. A Common Redpoll found at the Quarry on the 28th added a little diversity to our list of passerines this week. Regularly occurring species now present on the island: Northern Pintail Green-winged (and Common) Teal Greater Scaup King Eider Harlequin Duck Long-tailed Duck Red-necked Grebe Northern Fulmar Red-faced Cormorant Pelagic Cormorant Semipalmated Plover Least Sandpiper Rock Sandpiper (ssp. ptilocnemis) Red-necked Phalarope Glaucous-winged Gull Black-legged Kittiwake Red-legged Kittiwake Common Murre Thick-billed Murre Pigeon Guillemot Parakeet Auklet Least Auklet Crested Auklet Tufted Puffin Horned Puffin Winter Wren (ssp. priblofensis) Lapland Longspur Snow Bunting Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch (ssp. umbrina) For tour information or to make travel arrangements visit our website http://www.alaskabirding.com or call 1-877-424-5637. This is Cameron Cox(Cameron_cox@hotmail.com), Scott Schuette, and Adam Sabatine the 2008 St. Paul Island Tour guides, wishing you good birding.