Belated Alaska: Nome Interlude

I am finally catching up with the last couple of posts from our amazing Alaska trip back in June. This first one covers one of our 'schedule padding' days between Gambell and Anchorage.

After returning from Gambell, we had an evening and most of the next day to bird before catching a late flight to Anchorage. The evening session was a dud and the next day we decided to head up the Kougarok to find a Wandering Tattler in some breeding habitat as well as check out Salmon Lake again. The tattler search proved futile and activities devolved largely into photographing some common species we had yet to see very well.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

The first of these were American Tree Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow. We also had very nice looks at singing Arctic Warblers, which were abundant in the roadside willows.

Arctic Warbler

Ruddy Turnstone

We then checked out a different part of Salmon Lake for ducks and other waterbirds. A flock of Common Goldeneye was our first of the trip and there were a few other ducks along with three species of loon, all of which were distant. Some breeding shorebirds on the tundra around the lake provided a bit more interest with winnowing Wilson’s Snipe, an American Golden-plover and, surprisingly for us at least, three Ruddy Turnstones.

Male Rusty Blackbird

We headed back towards Nome, stopping off at suitable stretches of the river for tattlers before heading down to some ponds we had not previously checked. There were a few gulls, terns and Red-necked Phalaropes and a lot of Bank Swallows. On the way back out, we saw a couple of blackbirds fly over the road. The only option here was Rusty Blackbird, which neither I nor Paul had seen on the trip yet, so we got out and eventually had some good looks.

"Silently Singing" male Blackpoll Warbler

While looking at the blackbirds, a male Blackpoll Warbler flew across the road. We hadn’t seen this species well yet, so a bit of playback produced some stellar views of a very smart-looking bird. Unfortunately, while I could see the bird singing, I could not hear it with my aging ears now having problems with very high frequency songs.

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