I was shocked that I was coherent at 5:30 (if the alarm hadn't gone off the kids outside my window would have done it), so after the morning routine had breakfast, and then we all headed down to The Point. Several people saw a Savannah Sparrow (the wind was favorable for vagrants from North America), and I enjoyed close looks at a Lap and a pair of Snow Buntings. We were socked in with fog at first, but then it miraculously lifted and we had another great seawatch with cute little Least Auklets at our feet, and more puffin-led packs of murres! A lovely flock of Steller's Eiders flew by, and in the course of the morning we had Common and King as well (mostly subadults). A couple of gulls were trying to salvage a dead auklet, but they gave up, and it eventually drifted close enough to shore to where Marshall was trying to retrieve the thing with a stick, so Walter went and found a huge piece of driftwood to toss behind the bird in hopes of pushing it closer to shore! It worked, and Marshall was finally able to rake it in, and everyone had close up looks at it. It finally ended up with Luke Cole and his friend David, who posed for shots with it! (To clarify: we eventually left it there; I was bemoaning the fact that my friend Phil Unitt, the bird guy at the San Diego Natural History Museum, would have died for that specimen, but without a salvage permit, you're outta luck!) During all that, new birds we added to the list (or at least to my personal list) included a fly-by Ruddy Turnstone, a nice adult Parasitic Jaeger, and a Shoveler of all things! Somewhere in there a gorgeous lady Red Phalarope went whizzing by, but I think that was on a previous day (they all blend together after awhile...).
Another tromp through the Boneyard scares up some Snow Buntings; the female Lapland Longspur
(center) has a more mottled back.
Lines of murres were often led by a puffin or two!
Both species of murre flock together; Commons are a bit ashier than Thick-billed
Mixed species flock made up of murres, Common Eiders (male is the big black and white duck in the middle) and a Pintail in the lead!
Kittiwakes are told by their "dipped in ink" wingtips 1st-year Slaty-backed and Vega Gulls
can be nearly identical; the Slaty-
backed on the left has an all-dark bill.
Pelagic Cormorant Least Auklets
Marshall tries to retrieve a dead Crested Auklet that some gulls were trying to snatch...
Walter assesses the situation and goes to get a bigger stick!
Throwing the log in brings the bird closer to shore...
Success! Everyone gets a close look at this clown-like bird!
Fellow Californian Luke Cole ends up posing with it...
We sludged back and had lunch, during which Kevin told us more great stories (now you'll have to take a trip with him to hear them)! Somewhere in here the long days, short nights, and the pressure of cooking all the meals finally got to him, and he came down with a doozy of a cold that lasted the entire trip, on and off. But that was another suggestion I put on the evaluation: hire someone to come along for that portion of the trip and do all the cooking! The guy from High Lonesome (I think it was) brought his non-birding wife along and she happily did just that!
After lunch I took a quick nap, then joined the gang to go back to The Point. On the way there they were distracted by a Bluethroat, and a pipit of some kind (turned out to be Red-throated, I found out later), but my body had had it with the Boneyard (several other groups had joined us by that point), so I just headed straight to The Point via the boatyard, where I kept an eye out for the Townsend's Warbler they had found earlier, but nada. He was hanging out around the "stinky whale", a carcass they had pretty much stripped but still had a few undried chunks of meat attached to it (great study of baleen, though...). Found Phil, Ray, Ruth, and Alice at The Point, and Phil had seen Spectacled Eiders earlier (and the High Lonesome group had missed them by five minutes)! Otherwise, it was really quiet, but shortly Kevin arrived, and a little while later what should come shooting by but another pair of Specs! I was dubious because the male was a subadult, and since I had studied out of the NG guide and not Sibley's (big mistake), I didn't know what to look for on a subadult Spec. But Kevin assured me that no other eider would have that much black up the chest, and consulting someone's Sibley later, I felt better about the ID!
Shortly Marshall and his crew showed up, and shortly after that the ATVs came and I hitched a ride home to catch up on the journal. During dinner a "bird freak-out" occurred when Kim came racing in and grabbed a field guide, and after feverishly perusing it announced that he thought he had a Green Sandpiper! That emptied the room in a hurry, but since it sounded like it was on the other side of the Boneyard, I didn't go. Turns out it was pretty close after all, and it was a Wood Sandpiper, which while still a vagrant, is more likely! I regretted not going only because of the camaraderie, but I would have a second chance the next morning!
Decided to sleep in, then took a shower when I got up, did the routine, packed, got my bags out there, and chatted with the gals and the natives still selling their ivory (one gal had brought by some exquisite dolls, and Phil bought one for his friend who works at the San Diego Museum of Man!). Shortly the news came that a Red-necked Stint was at the same little airport pond that the Wood Sandpiper had shown up at, so I went this time, and had marvelous looks at this little guy (along with all the other birders)! Dorothy, Alice, and the Covills had gone with Marshall to The Point, so we radioed back to them to hurry back, and thankfully the stint stayed put! Even though he flew around the pond, he kept coming back to the vicinity of this one plank, and someone said ruefully, "There's just something about that board!" (I guess the Wood Sandpiper had been hanging around it as well...)
One last poke around the Boneyard...
Just a Raven hanging around...
"There's a what back at the airport pond??!" A report of a Red-necked Stint from Asia
empties the place in a hurry!
That was a nice final vagrant for Gambell!