DENALI, ALASKA: June 20-28, 2009

After arriving in Anchorage on June 20, 2009, Sharon, Susan, and I first drove up to the Arctic Valley where a wedding was taking place. It was windy and cold but we trudged up a very steep trail to some rocky ledges where I was hoping to find a White-tailed Ptarmigan. There were no Ptarmigans at all just some Orange-crowned Warblers, Alder Flycatchers, Fox Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, and Wilson's Warblers and lots and lots of wildflowers mostly Wild Geraniums. It took a long time to carefully descend from the steep gravel hillside without tumbling all the way down on our backsides. Back at the base we found a picnic area across from the ski area. It was so windy we had to boil the water in the bathroom. We ate quickly to escape the awful wind and drove down the mountain to Potter Marsh. We looked in the marsh from some of the pullouts but only saw one Beaver and many Arctic Terns and Mew Gulls. Then we continued south on the Seward Highway past Cook Inlet and all the way around Turnagain Arm. We considered camping at Bird Campground in Chugach State Park but after parking at an open spot, getting out and hearing all the noise-- live music, loud highway noises, and noisy campers-- we decided to continue to our reserved spot in Chugach National Forest on the back side of Turnagain Arm on the Kenai Peninsula. On the way we pulled into the turn off for the Portage Glacier to see if any sites were open there but they were all full. I wanted to stop at Portage Glacier but it was nearly 11:00 PM and Susan said we should continue to Porcupine Campground where we had a reservation. It was the summer solstice and still very light out but Sharon and Susan were sleeping and too tired. It's too bad because it was the one day of the whole trip it did not rain at Portage Valley. We drove the long but beautiful drive around Turnagain Arm to the very end of the road at the old gold mining town of Hope, AK to our camp site at Porcupine Campground. It was a very private campsite with ample room but ours was occupied by squatters whom we quickly threw out and made camp. It was still light out after we erected our tents but it was so late that we were soon off to bed. It was hard to sleep with it so light out.

June 21, 2009, the first day of summer, I got up and started boiling water for coffee. As soon as it began to boil the whole stove and pot fell over spilling boiling water onto my right hand causing a severe burn. Despite the mishap we had our breakfast and after admiring all the beautiful dwarf dogwoods that surrounded our campsite left for Chugach State Park. First we stopped at Potter Marsh to walk around the boardwalk. An Alder Flycatcher was singing away right at the entrance and a Lesser Yellowlegs flew repeatedly up onto the railing singing loudly. The boardwalk took us right over the marsh and would have been quite enjoyable except it was too close to the highway noise. Still we enjoyed seeing a singing Lincoln's Sparrow and hearing a singing Northern Waterthrush. There was a Bald Eagle roosting near the marsh and a requisite Black-billed Magpie. I saw a Yellow-shafted Flicker (in California they are red-shafted) fly over and we heard some Black-capped Chickadees in the alders.

We left Potter Marsh and drove up to the Glen Alps section of Chugach State Park. A steady rain was coming down as we parked at the trail head for Williwaw Lakes. The trail descended to a drainage where many wildflowers were growing including the beautiful Chocolate Lily. Soon the trail split and we went right and began an arduous climb up a steep hillside. I was too worn out from our Arctic Valley scramble and insisted that we go back down. We returned to the split and began walking the left branch which was much more manageable though muddy, and Susan spotted our first moose of the trip munching on the wildflowers. We got within one mile of Williwaw Lakes but everyone was just too tired to continue so we returned to the car intending to make a last stop at Portage Glacier. We drove back through Anchorage and down Turnagain Arm again but as soon as we hit the Kenai Peninsula it again began to rain. We tried to stop at Beluga Point to look for whales but the wind was blowing so hard that I could barely open the door and so we continued. By the time we reached Portage Valley it was pouring. We pulled over at the Begich Visitor Center and could only take photos of the iceberg remnants of Portage Glacier from the car. The rain was so intense that we never even got out of the car but continued on down Turnagain Arm back to our cute little campsite at Porcupine CG where we had a wine and cheese social before turning in to bed with it still completely light out.

June 22, 2009, we decided to try Portage Glacier one more time before heading up to Denali. As we approached Portage Valley the rain came harder and harder. We pulled into the fish viewing area but it was too early for spawning salmon. Next we put on all our best rain gear and hiked the 1.6 mile trail to Byron Glacier. It was raining so hard but it was stunning to walk right up to the glacier and see it melting into a cold stream. We went to the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center where you can look at the icebergs from a tunnel but learned that the Portage Glacier has receded so much in the last 100 years that you now must take a cruise ship to walk on it. Where the icebergs are today is where the glacier used to be in 1860. The rain wouldn't let up so we continued back to Beluga Point where we had lunch. Shortly thereafter we had our first bear sighting as two bears walked near the edge of Cook Inlet. Next we left Anchorage and drove to Denali State Park. We pulled into the Mt. McKinley View pullouts along the Glen Highway but Denali was obliterated by clouds as usual. I told Susan and Sharon not to expect to see North America's highest peak while there because it is so high and so massive that it creates its own weather patterns and is frequently shrouded in clouds. At Denali State Park a ranger suggested we walk around Byers Lake which we did. Devil's Club and Nagoonberry were growing near the trailhead. There were a lot of mosquitoes but we had our head nets on. We saw two Tundra Swans on a nest and a beaver in the lake. While stopped for a break I heard the unmistakeable high weeze and looked up in a Spruce to see my first ever Bohemian Waxwing! After circling the lake we had dinner at the Denali SP picnic area before proceeding to the entrance to Denali National Park some 80 miles further along the Glen Highway. We set up camp at the Riley Creek Campground at the park entrance while serenaded by several Varied Thrushes.

June 23, we drove as far on the park road as they allow to the Savage River Bridge which we crossed on foot and then humped it up 3000 feet to the top of Primrose Ridge. From the bottom it seemed like nothing but dwarf birch grew there but as we ascended we were regaled with a host of various wildflowers blooming including the gorgeous Brook Saxifrage, the ubiquitous Bluebell, Wooly Lousewort, Moss Campion, Eskimo Potato, Pink Plumes, Arctic Milkvetch, Bog Rosemary, Cinquefoil, and many, many more. The hike required numerous stops not just to admire the many wildflowers but to catch our breath. While breaking at one point a Golden Eagle flew over and put on a spectacular aerial display I'd never witnessed before. The eagle would fly up and up and then dive straight down with its wings folded into its body before swooping up again at the last minute and soaring up and up into the clouds only to swoop down again wings in like an arrow shot down to earth by god. Close to the summit Susan and Sharon petered out and I was left to myself to scramble to the peak looking all the while for a White-tailed Ptarmigan. I didn't see any Ptarmigans but there was a Northern Wheatear, American Pipit, and a Merlin. All three species of Ptarmigans occur in Denali but the White-tailed can only be found above 4000 feet on rocky ledges. After enjoying the birds, flowers, and views down to the Savage River and across to the Alaska Range, I rejoined my compatriots and we had lunch before descending the steep slope. Back at park headquarters we picked up our park bus passes and then drove past the Savage River Bridge to mile post 29, the Teklanika Campground, our home for the next three nights.

June 24, I was awake in the tent listening to the rain bouncing off the tent fly and waiting, waiting for it to stop. When at 7:30 it still was raining I gave up and got up, made breakfast and lunch and prepared for a full day out in the last frontier. We stood at the bus stop and three buses wouldn't let us get on until finally a bus driven by Monty picked us up. In Denali you may only drive your car as far as the Savage River unless you are camping at Teklanika CG and then you may only drive to the campground and back. No one may drive any further along the park road except a very few winners of an annual lottery. Everyone else must take a park bus driven by Aramark, the official park consessionaire. Denali National Park is six million acres of pristine wilderness crossed only by one road, the park road which goes from Riley Creek to Kantishna some 80 miles away. Just one mile after Monty picked us up the bus stopped again at Teklanika River rest stop. It continued to rain steadily and it was hard to see out of the park (Aramark) bus windows. So some Germans in the seat ahead of us got out and wiped the windows off for us and them. As we continued into the park the rain turned to a heavy snow and it became increasingly difficult to see through the muddy windows. However, the snow had driven the park mammals down the mountains and much closer to the park road than they would normally be. Soon we were stopping for a mother grizzly nursing her cub close by. We saw a Carribou near the road with her calf close behind. It was the first time I'd ever seen a caribou calf and it was Sharon and Susan's first look at any carribou. Monty explained that the Eielson Visitor Center at mile marker 66 was named after a bush pilot whose plane went down in Russia. We were all left scratching our heads at the connection with Denali National Park. There was little to see out of the window other than the snow storm so Monty told the story of Adolph Murie. In the 1930s the Park Service thought that wolves were the cause of a decline in the park's Dall Sheep population so they were shooting the wolves. The Park hired Murie to conduct a study of them. He was the first person to conduct a scientific study of wolves in their natural habitat in Denali. He gathered enough data to prove that the Park's policy of shooting wolves was actually imbalancing the fragile tundra ecosystem. Murie's ensuing book, The Wolves of Mt. McKinley, remains a classic to this day among biologists. I had first read about Adolph Murie and his wife, Louise, in a book about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge which they both tirelessly fought to protect throughout their lives.

In 1906, naturalist and hunter, Charles Sheldon, spent 45 days on the Toklat River studying wildlife. He returned back east and spent the rest of his life urging his influential friends and members of congress to protect the area. Finally in 1917 Mt. McKinley National Park was set aside as a wild life refuge with two million acres. Sheldon personally delivered the bill to President Wilson to sign into law. In 1980, the park boundary was expanded with an additional four million acres. Later the park name was changed to Denali the Athabascan name for North America's highest peak. Close to lunchtime we arrived at the Eielson Visitor Center, the first certified green building in the US. There we learned that Eielson had flown a plane delivering goods and people to the area before it was a park and that he became famous for flying the first plane across the Arctic Ocean. Still I thought the visitor center should have more aptly been named the Murie Visitor Center or better the Charles Sheldon Visitor Center. We got off Monty's bus at Eielson and hiked from there down a trail to the Thoroughfare River. The snow turned to rain as we descended. Somehow we got off the trail and ended up bushwacking through thick willows the last quarter mile, but finally made it down to the river and found a moose there. We walked up the river toward the Muldrow Glacier and the clouds partially cleared exposing Mt. Eielson. We walked back up to the visitor center and Susan rested there because her shoes and socks were wet, while Sharon and I attempted to take the Alpine trail which was unfortunately closed due to bear activity. We walked the road instead. Snow covered everything and we saw little but some Arctic Ground Squirrels. We gathered Susan and boarded another bus headed back to the entrance with driver, John. On the way back we saw an additional nine grizzly bears very close to the park road, including one mother with three cubs. As we approached Polychrome Pass a broken down bus was blocking a hair pin turn. John adeptly manuevered the bus through the turn and got us safely back to Teklanika. Despite the foul weather it was an exciting wildlife day.

June 25, 2009, the sun was out but it was 29 degrees! Holy Toledo. I got up and was excitedly making coffee when I heard a high pitched wheeze-- two Bohemian Waxwings were right there in the campground-- an auspicious beginning to our day. I roused Susan and Sharon out of bed and we caught a bus headed for Wonderlake driven by Cindy. Cindy found some Dall Sheep high up on a ridge, the first ones of the trip. We also saw some carribou, more grizzlies, and moose, and one Red Fox. As we rounded Sable Pass at 3900 feet, Mt. McKinley, some 55 miles away, came into view. Cindy announced it so non-chalantly that I almost thought I misunderstood her. After spending an entire week in Denali in 1996 and never seeing it not once, I didn't think we would see it this trip either. I wasn't going to chance the famed Denali clouds covering it before we got to the viewing area at Eielson, so I took some pictures of it before Polychrome. By the time we reached Eielson sure enough Denali was partially obstructed by clouds. The family sitting behind us on the bus was from Ibiza and they were speaking Portugese. The parents spoke enough English to ask me to put the window up every ten minutes but the kids spoke no English and couldn't understand the interpretive dialogue provided by the bus driver. They talked incessantly even while Cindy was explaining the park flora and fauna. At Eielson we took a 20 minute break so I walked as far as I could up the Alpine trail. It was sunny and full of wildflowers and surprisingly following yesterday's heavy snows, three species of butterflies-- Common Ringlet, Common Alpine, and Arctic Fritillary. It's a long drive just to get to Eielson and the Portugese chatter was mildly irritating but turning to extreme by the time we got to the kettle ponds after leaving Eielson and headed toward Wonderlake. There were nesting Tundra Swans in one of the ponds and Cindy stopped so we could look at them. There were also Green-winged Teal, Barrows Goldeneye, and Greater White-fronted Geese with goslings. Opposite the kettle ponds we passed along Muldrow Glacier, one of the many glaciers at the base of Mt. McKinley, and all along the back side of the Alaska Range and Mt. McKinley which remained shrouded in clouds the duration of the day but was spectacular nonetheless. Almost to Wonderlake a Chinese boy pulled out his gameboy and started playing it with the sound on. I felt like I was on the number 14 Muni Bus! I had had it. So I told the boy it was inappropriate to play a video game with the sound on while in a wilderness area. Meanwhile the Portugese morons' son behind me started singing Star Wars. When he began to sing the Flintstones, instead of asking him to be quiet, the father started humming along with him. Even while stopped to admire wildlife with Cindy imploring everyone to be quiet the little stentorian family continued their Portugese palaver. I was outraged. Just before reaching Wonderlake Cindy told us that those beautiful photos you see of McKinley with Wonderlake in the foreground are taken from Kantishna further down the park road! We should have gotten out at the kettle ponds and Swan nest. We got out at the lake but it was full of mosquitoes and so we only used the bathroom before departing again. Almost ready to pull away, Mr. Ibiza said in broken English to Cindy, "my wife, she not on bus." I thought to myself too bad we couldn't have left both of you there. As the bus headed back toward the entrance the Ibeza brats continued to hum and even that deteriorated into a tuneless monotone drone. I couldn't take it and so we jumped out when the bus stopped for a lady to take a photo of Mt. McKinley. I prefered to walk back than spend my afternoon with those horrible people. As we walked along I was shocked to find two more species of butterflies-- Theano Alpine and White-veined Arctic. As we walked along admiring the Alaska Range it began to hail: it was only a matter of time since we had seen all other forms of precipitation. After a while a bus came and we got on. This bus was driven by this character named, Dick. Some weird lady who was camping at Teklanika was on the bus telling Dick about this evil bus driver who would not stop for wildlife. I almost thought she was joking it was so outrageous. Dick said there was one Nazi bus driver who was behind us. We asked Dick to let us off at Highway Pass, a pass Cindy had pointed out earlier in the day as a nice place to take a walk on account of all the wildflowers. As we approached Highway Pass Dick pointed out a Golden Eagle. Just as we all turned to look at it, a Ptarmigan bolted out and started chasing the eagle. Dick then let us off and our walk did not disappoint. First of all there were four bears across the drainage. Secondly there was a field of an endemic flower, the Arctic Poppy, growing there. And thirdly there were hundreds of species of flowers clinging to the tundra, that you could admire if you were willing to get on your hands and knees to examine them. I could have spent hours there in that one spot. We walked along across the tundra enjoying the solitude and scenery. But it was getting late so we crossed a willow patch to get back to the road and flushed a Willow Ptarmigan family. There were more butterflies in the tundra and some Arctic Warblers in the willow patch. It was a delightful walk marred by our unfortunate luck to reach the park road just as the Nazi bus driver pulled up. We got on and the harridan demanded to see our bus passes even though it was nearly 7:30 PM and we were miles from the entrance with no other way to get there than by our bus pass. I pulled them out of my pocket and we sat down. Oh how I wish we had not gotten on with that officious, punctilious, harpy. As the bus approached the Toklat River someone spotted two Gray Wolves and yelled stop. Ms. Punctilious said, "I can't stop." I yelled "Stop!" She said I cannot stop the bus. I said only 15% of park visitors get to see a gray wolf. She said I won't stop. I said well then let me off and she said "no, no walking is allowed here." I said this is false imprisonment. This officious intermedler on the bus jumped up and jabbed her finger in my face and yelled, "you need to get control of yourself missy." I wanted to punch the virago but instead I sat down because it was obvious I was on a bus full of abused sheep. I looked at the front of the bus for the driver's name which was posted above the rear view mirror, Chandra Willig. Chandra the chanticleer pointed the bus toward the left and said, "here on the left we have..." I thought she was going to point out a Snowshoe Hare, the most common mammal in the park. Instead she said, "a park sign that says no stopping." I wanted to point out that the park service spent years shooting wolves and I found it ironic they didn't want a park bus to stop to look at one. Also extremely ironic was the man walking near the sign Chandra just took pains to point out to me. We pulled into Toklat and I used the toilet and again began walking the park road. I would rather walk the 20 miles from Toklat to Teklanika than ride with that punctilious harridan and her bus full of Dall sheep. We stopped at the Toklat River Bridge for some final pictures. As we walked along I scanned the spruce trees for a Northern Hawk-Owl. Pretty soon another bus came along and we got on. I never learned our new driver's name but the bus was full of some folks from Tennessee with thick accents talking about grizzlies over yonder and curiously the driver had one too. She was very sweet though. At Polychrome she asked if anyone wanted her to stop for a Gyrfalcon. She said incredulous, "no one wants to see the largest falcon in the world?" Someone yelled "get your hands back on the wheel!" I said I would like to see one! This idiot from Germany who spoke no English would not even bother to put her window down and I was stuck in an isle seat so all I got was a shakey video shot. When she dropped us off at Teklanika I thanked her for stopping at the Gyrfalcons and she seemed very pleased. Back at camp Varied Thrushes were singing but the temperature was dropping fast to 42 degrees by 10:10 PM.

June 26, was our last day in Denali. We packed up our tents and left Teklanika. We stopped at the Savage River Bridge and walked the lovely Savage River Loop Trail. On the trail we saw a whole family of Willow Ptarmigans and a female Northern Pintail in the Savage River. As we were driving from the Savage River to the entrance Susan yelled for me to stop. She spotted a Northern Hawk-Owl in a spruce tree. I got out and it let me get pretty close to it. A Mew Gull tried to swoop down over it and caused it to squawk. After admiring the Hawk-owl, we took a much deserved shower at the Riley Mercantile and then left Denali and drove the Denali Highway, a 135 mile mostly unpaved road from Cantwell to Paxton with incredible views of the Alaska Range and the Wrangell mountains. We spotted two Bohemian Waxwings doing a mating dance. Then we stopped just past the Brushkana CG and got out to look for Smith's Longspurs. We heard one singing but could never find it. There was a Wilson's Snipe winnowing. We drove further stopping at some ponds but it began to rain and by the time we reached the Tangle River CG no one had the heart to take the tents out in the rain. We cooked dinner under the hatch of the car and then left to find a lodge. We stayed at the Tangle River Lodge and in the morning drove further to Milepost 13 to look for Smith's Longspurs. It was so windy that Sharon returned to the car. Susan and I doggedly continued. We met a carribou that looked at me as if it were about to be shot. We found a female Lapland Longspur but finally the wind drove us hurrying back to the car. There were magnificent views of the Wrangell mountains from the hill top.
A Whimbrel flew over and there were some Arctic Warblers in the willows. A Bald Eagle was perched on a cabin top. As we returned down the Denali Highway we saw three Common Loons in breeding plummage in one of the many ponds. We stopped at McLaren Summit and took the trail there with commanding views of the Alaska Range and the McLaren Valley. On they way back to the trailhead I spotted a Long-tailed Jaeger. Gray-cheeked Thrushes were singing from the trees. We found a breeding Least Sandpiper at MP 104 and then we left the Denali Highway. We stopped at Denali State Park for dinner and then drove from there back to Anchorage for the night before our flight home. Despite the foul weather, the stentorian Portugese family, the crazed punctilious bus driver, and the mosquitoes, it was hard to leave the astonishing last wild place in North America.
New birds:
Northern Hawk-owl
Bohemian Waxwing
Smith's Longspur
By: Michelle Brodie July 7, 2009

St. Paul Island, Alaska May 22-26, 2009

On May 21, 2009 I left work in the afternoon and took a long miserable flight with a three hour layover in Salt Lake City, to Anchorage, AK. My plane didn't arrive until 1:00AM. I had no time for anything but to find my hotel in Anchorage. May 22, 2009, I got up as early as I could and drove to the Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage where I was hoping to see a Hudsonian Godwit. It was low tide and there were only Arctic Terns and Mew Gulls on the islands and Red-necked Grebes in the lagoon. I walked the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail to the railroad depot but there were nothing but Orange-crowned Warblers and no shorebirds on the mudflats. I had no spotting scope to scan and anything out there would have been too far. So I left and headed to the airport where I was to meet my Wilderness Birding Adventures group for a trip to the Pribilof Islands, 750 miles off the coast of Anchorage in the Bearing Sea.

I met my group, our leader, Aaron Laing, and four other guys at the Anchorage Airport which is still named after that convicted criminal, Ted Stevens, and we caught a small twin engine plane to St. Paul Island, one of four islands that make up the Pribilof Islands, some three hours west. St. Paul is home to 200 permanent residents, mostly native Inupiat Eskimos and the largest breeding colony of Northern Fur Seals in the world.

Upon landing we checked into the tiny King Eider Hotel and then immediately headed to a pond where we quickly found a Common Greenshank, a Eurasian species rarely found on St. Paul and certainly nowhere else in North America at all. Everyone was very excited especially Aaron. I couldn't remember if I had seen one in South Africa when I was there in December 2007 or not. I told Susan before I left for the Pribilofs that if we saw some common Asian species that she and I had already seen I would have to fake enthusiasm. After some nice looks at the Greenshank we began a thorough scouring of town looking for another rarity. The other van, a group with High Lonesome Birding, found it first and radioed us. We raced over and I got a brief look at a Dusky Thrush, a species I had never even heard of before that day. We got out and I briefly filmed it before it flew away. It was overcast and windy. After loosing the Dusky Thrush we headed over to the Trident Fish Factory for dinner. We would have all our meals there for the next four days. The fish they served at dinner was very good but the vegetables were canned, the salads featured iceberg lettuce, and everything was cooked in massive quantities of butter. After dinner we drove to Polvina Pond and found a Wood Sandpiper (uncommon breeder on St. Paul) a Common Sandpiper, a Eurasian species, and miraculously a Common Snipe, a Eurasian Species that closely resembles our Wilson's Snipe. After enjoying the sandpipers and tramping through the marsh for as long as we could we then headed back to the King Eider Hotel which is really a bunkhouse, to settle in for the night. It was nearly 10:00 PM and still like midday out, when Aaron said we would meet in the lounge area to go over our bird list for the day. It became apparent right away that I could never add anything to the conversation. Aaron could talk about nothing but birds. We went over the list and Aaron announced the bird of the day. Everyone agreed that the Dusky Thrush was the winner. It was still light out when I went to bed after 11:00 PM but breakfast was not until 8:00 AM so that was OK.

May 23, I got up and made myself some Peets coffee I had brought because there was no way I was going to drink Vulgar's (Folgers). A lady was in the coffee pot already. She was with the High Lonesome group. She was excited about a Pintail out the window which she tried to point out to me but I either couldn't get excited enough or couldn't see it. She was a retired neurologist from Cleveland. We had nothing in common so after my coffee I went and had a shower. Scott, the TDX (the Eskimo tribe that owns St. Paul) tour guide, was late picking us up so I took a picture of one of the few breeding birds on the island, a Rosy-crowned Finch which is a subspecies found only on the Pribilofs. You have to hike above 10,000 feet to see one in California. Scott drove us to Trident and we had breakfast. The men were gorging themselves on pancakes, stuffed crepes, eggs, and sausages. I filled my plate with fruit. At $9.00 it was a very expensive plate of fruit. Aaron and Scott discussed birds. Back outside after breakfast some arctic foxes were lounging on the rocks. It was sunny and not very cold for St. Paul. Scott divided the groups up and he drove our group to a fur seal rookery with some steep cliffs. We climbed up the cliffs (except for Alex who couldn't make it) and got very close to breeding Horned Puffins, Tufted Puffins, Least Auklets, Parakeet Auklets, Crested Auklets, and lots and lots of Common Murres and Thick-billed Murres and Black-legged Kittiwakes. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were having a great time looking at all the sea birds and taking lots of photos but Aaron felt bad for Alex and went to the base of the cliff to join him. Scott became restless after a couple of hours and pressured us to leave. We reluctantly left the cliff and rejoined Alex and Aaron who had found another Common Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper in the pond below the cliffs. There were two ladies from Anchorage who had joined us who were not really birders, Marsha and Leslie. They were having a great time on the cliffs too and asking lots of questions. Soon it was time for lunch so we headed over to the Trident Fish Plant. During lunch Scott and Aaron disccussed birds. I never got to add anything. After lunch I walked outside while the men had seconds and saw an Arctic Fox still in its winter coat (all the rest I saw had already obtained their summer coats). Soon Aaron came outside and addressed the group. He told us we had three choices-- relax until 3:30, go find some Emperor Geese, or tramp through the marshes around Polvina Pond to see what we could scare up. It was quite obvious what Aaron wanted to do but since the four of us had paid $2800 to come to St. Paul with Wilderness Birding Adventures he had to at least pretend we had a choice. The four of us looked at him incredulously about the first choice. Why would we pay thousands of dollars to "relax?" We all said we did not want to "relax" and had no preference between 2 and 3. So Aaron made an executive decision we would walk all the way around Polvina Marsh looking for something new. Marsha and Leslie asked to be dropped off at the fur seal rookery. We dropped them off and then Scott dropped us of at Polvina Marsh and left to take a nap. As an employee of TDX, he would be living on the island for the next four months. After Scott dropped us Aaron told us that last year the bird guides had instituted a rule of taking a break after lunch during which time no birding was done. It sounded insane to me. Why would you pay that much money to go lounge at the hotel? The hotel was bare bones and there was not much to do there. The leader of the High Lonesome tour apparently was abiding by the lunch break rule though and taking his group back to the hotel after lunch until 3:30. It seemed way too tame for me and I was glad I was not on the High Lonesome tour. The leader, Phil, was much older than Aaron. And even though Aaron was self centered, selfish, bookish, and obsessive, at least he was energetic. And Aaron was a fantastic bird spotter and had a great ear for bird songs even low pitched shorebird songs and was incredibly knowledgeable about birds in general. I was hesitant to lug my Canon and my Sony professional video camera into the marsh and so I opted for the Sony only since that is my preference. Aaron gathered us in a circle before starting out and made us think about what we wanted to see. He had us focus on Black-tailed Godwit and asked us to conjure one by positive thoughts. We started out into the marsh knee deep in our Neos (waterproof overboots). I heard a bird and put my binoculars on it. I was not yet decided on what it was before Aaron yelled out, "Black-tailed Godwit!" Black-tailed Godwit is a Eurasian species that is casual on St. Paul Island. The bird flew high and away but after a few minutes it flew back and landed approximately where we first found it. I took a picture of it with my video camera. Aaron would not let me get closer. I should have ignored the little bastard and walked toward it. He was so busy taking pictures with his stupid point and shoot lined up with his spotting scope (commonly known as digiscoping) that he couldn't be bothered with the fact that my video camera takes inferior pictures at that distance and we were on the trip for the benefit of the paid customers. I was lamenting that I had not lugged my Canon out there when I began to have the urge to urinate. There was nowhere in sight to hide and I was with four guys! Aaron took picture after picture and blabbed on and on about birds. Finally he decided we had to head back to the road and give up on continuing around Polvina I guess because he didn't want to flush the bird before the others got to see it. We went across the road and I went into a sand dune to relieve myself. We walked into the marsh we had checked the first day and refound the Common Snipe. After a while Scott arrived to pick us up. Aaron and Scott discussed birds in the van. We returned to the hotel and met Stefan who had arranged to use a four wheel drive truck. Although the truck held six, only someone of my short stature could have fit in the middle back seat so I volunteered . Aaron who is about six foot four sat in the front middle and crushed my legs. He discussed birds with Stefan on the way out to the northeast corner of the island which was partially blocked by a sand pile in the road. The goal was an Eye-browed Thrush that had been spotted two days earlier. Stefan made it through the sand in four wheel drive and we swept the barren plane leading to the coast where the fur seals roosted but found nothing but some resident Rock Sandpipers (a subspecies endemic to the Pribilof Islands) and Snow Buntings. Stefan took us to a secluded beach where some gulls were combing the beach. Aaron announced that the one closest to us was a Vega Herring Gull. I looked at it and it was screaming SLATY-BACKED GULL! I said wow that's a very dark Herring Gull and it's bigger than the nearby Glaucous Gull. Hmm. After going on and on about the eye color and ignoring the dark mantle and screaming pink legs, diagnostic features of a Slaty-backed Gull, Aaron finally conceded that it was indeed one. We scanned the ocean afterwards but there was little besides some very distant Red-faced Cormorants (a Pribilofs specialty bird that breeds there) and some even more distant King Eiders. Soon we left for dinner. During dinner we rejoined Scott and Scott and Aaron discussed birds. After dinner Aaron asked me if I had seen an Emperor Goose before. I started to tell him the story about going to Bodega Bay when he abruptly cut me off . Alex had never seen one before and was anxious to do so. Another TDX employee, Sean, took us to look for the Emperor Geese. It was clear that Sean was not nearly the same caliber birder as Aaron the Great and Scott. But he was nice enough and he soon walked us out to a point where we found them on a sand bar. There was a beautiful male King Eider that Aaron showed me in his scope and some Harlequin Ducks and Long-tailed Ducks. I took a very distant photo of a female King Eider.

After birding until 10:00 PM, Aaron insisted that we meet to go over the bird list and choose the bird of the day. They had all seen a Bar-tailed Godwit at the seal rookery that I had missed but Keith and I had seen a Lesser Scaup that they had missed. So our numbers were off and Aaron was visibly upset. Then it was time to choose the bird of the day. Aaron said he knew there would be dissension. I said the male King Eider, a fairly common bird of the Pribilofs. Aaron looked shocked and gave me a very disapproving look. Alex announced his choice, Emperor Goose because he had never seen one before whereas he and Aaron had found a Black-tailed Godwit a few days earlier on Adak Island in the Aluetian chain on an earlier trip. Then I said while the King Eider was very beautiful in actuality my choice was by far and away the Black-tailed Godwit, a much rarer bird that I in all probability will never see again. Ted, a very uptight effete from Portland, Oregon, sheepishly announced that at the risk of incurring the castigation of the group for choosing such a common bird, his bird of the day was a Lapland Longspur that he spent a long time with. The island was nearly covered from shore to shore this time of year with Lapland Longspurs to the point that no one ever even stopped to give them a second look. So I would say his comment more likely than not did cause an internal snicker with Aaron the Almighty Birder. Both of them were shameless listers and chasers and everyone already had Lapland Longspur on every conceivable list they might keep so there was no need to even consider the lowly Lapland Longspur. Aaron, as gentle and kind hearted as he was, feigned approval of Ted's choice. Ted was an ostentatious chaser who related numerous stories while we were there of chasing after this bird or the other in Oregon. I don't care for chasers or listers and he was the worst sort of lister, with a list for nearly everything. He kept copious notes on every single nook and cranny we visited on that tiny island asking Aaron repeatedly where are we now, where were we five minutes ago. It was all getting so tedious between the lister/chaser Ted and the incredibly self-centered and rabid single topic talker Aaron in the confined space of a tiny island in the middle of the Bearing Sea. Everyone went off to bed leaving just Aaron and me. I told him that I had been to South Africa and that's why I wasn't sure if I had seen the Common Greenshank or Common Sandpiper. I told him I had seen 241 birds there. He did not ask me one single question about it, only said he had never been there and then turned the subject back to himself. So I begged off to bed and had a couple of shots of whiskey before falling asleep.

May 24, Aaron and Scott had gone to sitting across from each other during all meals and talking incessantly about birds from the moment they encountered each other in the morning and continuing all through the day. One of them mentioned Paul Lehman, a famous birder who spent some time on the Pribilofs, and Aaron said, "I can't talk to him because all he ever talks about is birds." I said, "I don't know how to tell you two this but that's all y'all talk about." They both said it wasn't true. (In their defense someone did mention once what an idiot Sarah Palin was and how even in the Pribilofs we could not see Russia). After breakfast we drove to some point and did a sweep of a rocky shoreline. Aaron spotted a Hermit Thrush that somehow eluded all six of us and got away. Hermit Thrushes are very common across North America. But Aaron was keeping a trip list and was excited to add a new bird to our cumulative total. I was wondering how to get excited about paying $2800 to see a bird I could see at home. By the time we finished sweeping the shoreline it was time for lunch. When we got to Trident I purposely moved way to the end of the table away from Aaron and Scott because I simply could not listen to them talk about birds non-stop for one more minute. It was so tedious; what bores! So Aaron said to me, "oh that's a good idea; let's mix it up." Then he moved closer to me and Scott promptly sat across from Aaron so I couldn't get away from them. I went to the bathroom and a lady from the High Lonesome group came in. She confided to me that our group was much better than hers. Despite Aaron's boorishness and mind numbing obsessive chatter about birds he was a very good bird guide within an incredible ear for obscure bird songs and excellent bird identifying skills. But it wasn't hard to beat a group that "relaxed" from after lunch until 3:30 PM! I could barely tolerate my lunch while Scott and Aaron continued their loud bird palaver which I was not allowed to add to or participate in in any way. So when I finished I went back outside into the wind to watch the foxes and auklets on the cliffs. When the others came back out Scott dropped us off at the town marsh which we tramped through and found another two Wood Sandpipers. Later we went to a slough where we found yet another Wood Sandpiper, some Eurasian Wigeons, and a Semi-palmated Plover. It was gray, wind swept, and overcast but not stormy like it usually is on St. Paul. We were planning a sea watch for that evening after dinner and it was shaping up to be a cold one. For our last stop before dinner we went to a ridge top with a lake in it. They were all praying for a Smew but I was praying for a Mongolian Plover. We saw neither. So after hiking to the empty lake we all sat beside it and rested a while. For the first and only time of the whole trip I got to tell a story. I told them about my friend, Ken, who was abandoned by the bird guiding company, Rockjumper, when they had a secret meeting and kicked him off the group because his camera was too big deserting him in Madagascar. They were all incredulous and it became the group joke later when they found I did not scrupulously keep a life list as they did. When I said that I had a California Condor on my life list (not permissible by ABA Rules) Aaron said they were going to have a meeting and kick me off of the group and leave me on St. Paul Island.
Dinner was more tedious bird talk from Aaron and Scott and then after dinner we went to a point and had our sea watch. It was very windy and cold and I was dressed like an Eskimo. There were many Northern Fulmars flying about but my target bird was a Short-tailed Shearwater. Ted got his scope on a shearwater far out in the ocean. I got my binoculars on it and it did indeed resemble a shearwater in its shape and behavior. Aaron said it was a Short-tailed Shearwater and I said, "That's my lifer Short-tailed Shearwater? It could be any shearwater. How could I tell from that distance?" He said that Short-tailed Shearwater was the only one that occurred on St. Paul. So I added a very disappointing look at a life bird. Aaron let me use his scope after a while so he could sit down next to Scott and discuss birds. I scoped and scoped the ocean and finally Keith (the nicest and most normal guy on the trip) found a much closer Short-tailed Shearwater that he got me on as well. Still it was much too far away. No one was really interested in the sea watch but me. So after a while we had to leave and go back to the King Eider Hotel. On the way back Scott yelled out Curlew and slammed on the brakes and everyone jumped out. I put my bins to my eyes but they were completely fogged over and I didn't see it. Fortunately it was only a Whimbrel (very common year round resident in San Francisco). It was 10:30 PM but Aaron insisted we have our nightly meeting to go over the bird list. This was the night it finally came out that Keith and I had seen the Lesser Scaup and no one else had seen it. Ted saw it but refused to add it to his list because he could not independently identify it at that time (what a punctilious pain in the rear). Then it was time to decide on bird of the day. We hadn't really seen anything too terribly exciting and I was hoping Aaron would skip over me and ignore me like he usually did. He piped in that the Hermit Thrush was going to be his highlight (I repressed an eye roll) because his heart raced when he saw it but then decided it had to be the Whimbrel (I may have yawned at that point). By that time I think he was so immersed in himself that he forgot to ask me my bird of the day and so I escaped to my whiskey and bed.

May 25, 2009, was Memorial Day and our last day on St. Paul Island. It was overcast after two fine days of sunshine but no storms to blow in any rarities. I trudged to bird palaver breakfast with Scott and Aaron. I ate my $9.00 plate of fruit and then escaped the incessant bird chatter to the cliffs outside. There were the same auklets and puffins flying back and cross from the cliffs to the ocean. As I was admiring them in their beautiful breeding plummage Aaron walked up and asked if I was saying goodbye. Actually I was because although Tufted Puffins occur in California waters the only ones I've ever seen there were from a rocking boat and were in their not so exciting winter plummage. Scott assigned himself to Aaron and Stefan to High Lonesome. We drove to another sea cliff to see a nesting Red-legged Kittiwake. We walked to the top and had excellent views of nesting Fulmars in various plummages including this dark morph. I was led to believe there would also be a nesting Red-faced Cormorant but incredibly even though Scott lives on the island he did not know where to find one! I was disappointed because although we had seen quite a few they had all been in flight and I had been unable to either film or photograph one. I found it odd that someone could live there full time as the birding guide and not know where one nested. Oh well what could I do about it. Aaron sat by Scott while we took photos and they discussed birds. After a while we left to have lunch at Trident for the last time. Scott and Aaron discussed birds while I tried in vain to ignore them. After lunch we went back to the King Eider, packed, checked out, and checked our bags with PenAir. The plane was late by about three hours so after Scott returned from a nap I finally convinced him to take us out for one last time to look for birds. I had read so much about the Pribilof Islands in bird books and all the rare birds that have occurred there over the years, many of which were discovered hiding from the fierce winds in the crab pots that are stacked up in long huge rows during the off season, but curiously we had not checked them not once during our trip. Since we had an extra three hours Aaron suggested that Scott take us to check them. Aaron and Scott walked between the rows while the rest of us stood slightly ahead and on both sides looking for flushed birds. Near the end I put my bins on some motion and found a Hoary Redpoll-- a new bird for the trip! I yelled out Redpoll and everyone got a good look at it. Yeah, I found one bird and it became the bird of the day. We walked around town and I found one lonely blooming flower-- some type of buttercup hunkering down low to the ground. Aaron found an escaped Cockateil on somebody's roof. We also walked around a pond with some just emerging willows that were only as high as my boot top. Aaron spotted a Bald Eagle. Then it was time to catch our flight to Anchorage. The plane only held 12 people and had no toilet! Good thing I am short. Near Anchorage we passed an erupting volcano-- the Redoubt Volcano. Since our plane was three hours late I barely had any time at all to make one last desperate attempt for the Hudsonian Godwit. Now that Aaron had found the Black-tailed Godwit the second day, I had seen all the Godwits that occur in North America except Hudsonian which everyone assured me was "easy" in Anchorage. As soon as the plane landed I quickly said good bye to everyone (they were all continuing on to St. Lawrence Island for 10 days! Lucky bastards) and then rushed down to get a rental car and headed back to Westchester Lagoon. I could not find the directions and ended up tearing all my clothes out of my suitcase before fishing it out of the very bottom. Finally around 10:00 PM I arrived at the Lagoon. I walked from the car to the closest island with only my binoculars. There were the usual Mew Gulls and Arctic Terns. Then I heard a bird calling and looked over to see one lonely Godwit flying into the island-- one Hudsonian Godwit. I studied it with my bins to make a positive id and then flew over to my car to get my video camera for one brief shot of it before it flew back to Cook Inlet to roost for the night. It wasn't nearly as pretty as the Black-tailed Godwit I had seen on St. Paul Island. Where were the hundreds of them everyone claimed you could see in Anchorage? No matter, I only needed one. It was nearly midnight when the sun set in Anchorage and people were still picnicking at the park. I headed off to bed at the Holiday Inn.

May 26, 2009, I got up as soon as I was able and after packing and drove to Hillside Park for some last minute birding. I couldn't find any crossbills- just lots of mosquitoes so I left and headed back to Convicted Felon Airport. As the plane took off the pilot said he would bank so that those on the right side of the plane could see some glacier but after a few minutes he came on and said he lied but if you were sitting on the left side, where I was seated, you could see a rare sight--Mt. McKinley or Denali completely unobstructed by clouds! The guy in the window seat said to crawl over him he didn't mind, so I could see this spectacular sight. I had been to Denali in 1995 and we never saw Mt. McKinley the whole time (my brother reminds me of this every time I see him) even after taking a 72 mile bus trip to Wonder Lake, which is fairly typical. I looked out the window and sure enough there it was all 20,320 feet of it. What a way to end my trip!
Life Birds:
Common Snipe
Black-tailed Godwit
Red-faced Cormorant
Red-legged Kittiwake
Dusky Thrush
Short-tailed Shearwater
Hudsonian Godwit
Michelle Brodie
June 2, 2009