Wilderness Birding News
Taiga Flycatcher, Adak Island, Alaska.

Adak Spring 2024: Eye of the Taiga

Our 14th spring tour to Adak Island was perhaps our best yet, especially when measured by the number of Asian birds found! On a typical five-day trip to Adak Island in May, we enjoy the many specialties of Adak Island, including Common Snipe, Arctic Loon, Aleutian Tern, Lasyan Albatross, Bar-tailed Godwit, Rock Sandpiper, Rock Ptarmigan, Tufted Duck, Ancient Murrelet, and Whiskered Auklet and we hope to find one or two Asian strays to spice up the list. This year, we had great success with all of these specialties and were also treated to a wealth of rare birds to round out the list!

Rock Sandpiper, Adak Island, Alaska.
The beautiful Rock Sandpipers is a common nesting bird on Adak Island and throughout the Aleutians.

Our arrival on the island was routine, with good flying weather and beautiful clear skies on our first afternoon to take in the many gorgeous vistas including Mount Moffit, the highest peak on the island, and nearby Great Sitkin Island and its steaming volcano. The bird highlights on our first afternoon already included two rarities—a Black-headed Gull at Clam Lagoon, and at least seven Wood Sandpipers in Contrator’s Marsh! What a start. The weather was good for boating on our first full day so we left early in the morning for the trip to Great Sitkin Island to look for Whiskered Auklet. Success! We estimated we saw over 6,000 Whiskered Auklet in calm seas around Great Sitkin. We also picked up a Yellow-billed Loon. Things got really exciting when we got back to land and right after lunch got a radio call from another birder about a Taiga Flycatcher! We made quick time to get over to “Warbler Willows” and with a little searching relocated the bird and got long and great views of a stunning Taiga Flycatcher, red throat and all! The first twenty-four hours were very exciting! This is only the third record for Adak Island and the Central Aleutians and the first in spring!

Wood Sandpiper, Adak Island, Alaska.
Wood Sandpipers were easy to come by at Adak this year.
A flock of Wood Sandpipers, Adak Island, Alaska.
A flock of Wood Sandpipers, Adak Island, Alaska!
Long-toed Stint, Adak Island, Alaska.
Long-toed Stint, Adak Island, Alaska.
Red-necked Stint, Adak Island, Alaska,
It’s hard to blend in with a throat like that! Red-necked Stint, Adak Island, Alaska.
Brambling, Adak Island, Alaska.
Putting the stalk on a very confident Brambling.
Taiga Flycatcher, Adak Island, Alaska.
This Taiga Flycatcher, the first spring record for the Central Aleutians, was the rarity highlight of a rarity-filled trip!

For the rest of our five days, the winds continued from the west and great birds continued to be found. Wood Sandpiper numbers grew dramatically. On our fourth day, we tallied at least 39 Wood Sandpipers! They were joined by four Long-toed Stints and a showy and cooperative Red-necked Stint. To make things even a little more exciting, on our last afternoon, we connected with both Brambling and Hawfinch. This brought the tally to seven Asian birds in five days, and this total does not include our Common Snipe and Tufted Duck, which are both regular on Adak in spring.

What a trip!

An eBird trip report of the tour can be found here.

More information on our next spring trip to Adak Island can be found here.

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