New Tour in 2023: Fall Migration on Adak Island!

December 15, 2022

We’re continually exploring, learning, and working to improve the tours that we lead. We’ve been leading spring migrations tours to Adak Island since 2008 and have long considered a fall trip. So in 2022, we took a group of friends to Adak Island in September to explore the potential of running a fall tour there. What we found after eight days of sea watching, marsh tromping, ridge scanning, and thicket probing was spectacular and we’re thrilled to announce an official fall Adak tour in 2023!

Shorebirding takes center stage on a fall trip to Adak and much of our time was spent checking the many mudflats, marshes, and beaches of Adak in search of these migrating waders. During our stay we got excellent studies separating Sharp-tailed and Pectoral Sandpipers, caught a brief view of a Wood Sandpiper, and had a fly-over Gray-tailed Tattler. The shorebird highlight of the trip was not one, but two juvenile LITTLE STINTS at Clam Lagoon!

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Adak Island, Alaska — The clear orangeish breast, rufous cap, and bold supercillium help separate this as a juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, separating if from the similar Pectoral Sandpiper.

Pectoral Sandpiper, Adak Island, Alaska — We had plenty of excellent shorebird studies on this trip, including separating Pectoral and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. Note the coarse brownish streaks on the breast which are contained in a neat bib, unlike the clear, orange-washed breast of a juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

Common Snipe, Adak Island, Alaska — They’re not displaying, as they are in May, but we still managed to find several Common Snipe on our September 2022 exploratory trip.

Little Stint, Adak Island, Alaska — The shorebird of the trip was not one, but TWO juvenile LITTLE STINTS! Both showed very well and allowed for excellent photos.

Seawatching at Adak is productive any time of year and our efforts produced thousands of Short-tailed Shearwaters and many good looks at Laysan Albatross–from land! We had one tantalizing glimpse of an all-dark albatross, but unfortunately, the view was too distant and brief to identify it confidently. I guess there’s always next time.

Bramblings are always nice to find and we found several on this trip. But the stand-out bird, and by far the highlight of the trip was a fantastic NAUMANN’S THRUSH, only the 5th for Alaska and North America, that we found in the final hour of the trip. We had already checked in for the flight and had just enough time to check one last stand of spruce trees when we spotted this incredible bird! After some quick photography and nice scope views zipped back to the airport and boarded our flight to Anchorage. Talk about leaving them wanting more! We absolutely cannot wait to get back to Adak next September!