ADAK, THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: WHISKERED AUKLET, ETC.
DATES
MAY 12 – 20, 2007
MAY 14 – 22, 2008
COST (PER PERSON)
DOUBLE: $4600 SINGLE SUPPLEMENT: $450
DEPOSIT: $500
INCLUDES
From Anchorage, 8 nights lodging, all meals from 1st night dinner through final day's lunch, pelagic boat trip, transport, guides, taxes, tips to guides optional.
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OVERVIEW
Adak Island
offers the farthest western access to potential Asiatic species since Attu
closed down in 2000. The old 1987
checklist from Adak lists 34 Asiatic species, but birding coverage in Adak has
always been very sparse. In 2004,
we did not have favorable winds, but we were still able to find Bean Goose;
Tufted Duck; Eurasian Wigeon; Common Teal; Wood Sandpiper; and Brambling. Resident
birds include Cackling Goose; Red-faced & Pelagic Cormorant; Northern
Fulmar, Short-tailed Shearwater; Black Oystercatcher; Common Snipe (species split); Black-footed & Laysan Albatross; Rock Ptarmigan; Ancient and Marbled Murrelet; Whiskered, Crested, Parakeet, Least & Rhinoceros Auklet; Horned & Tufted Puffin; and an outside chance for Mottled Petrel and Short-tailed Albatross. Other birds recorded in the past include Whooper Swan; Falcated Duck; Spot-billed Duck; Garganey; Common Pochard; Smew; Lesser Sand-Plover; Spotted Redshank; Gray-tailed Tattler, Far Eastern Curlew; Common Sandpiper; Black-tailed Godwit; Great Knot; Marsh Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint; Long-toed Stint; Ruff; TemminkÕs Stint; Pin-tailed Snipe; Common Cuckoo, Oriental Cuckoo; Dusky Thrush; Rustic Bunting; Common Rosefinch; Hawfinch.
Abridged Adak History. Adak was built up as a military base, beginning just after the Japanese bombing of Dutch Harbor in 1942 and for the subsequent invasion of Attu and Kiska in the western Aleutians. Atits peak, 90,000 troops were housed on Adak to turn back any Japanese invasion of Alaska. After the war, Adak became a strategic military communications and surveillance post. In 1995, the decision was made to close Adak as a military facility as a part of the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC). At that time, the population of Adak was over 6,000 military and support personnel and their family members. The title of the military property and facility officially changed hands from the US Navy to the Aleutian Development Corporation in April 2004. Today, the permanent population of the island is only 60+ people. The town of Adak (AlaskaÕs newest incorporated community) is still searching for its future, relying on fishing, hunting, birding, and other recreational and tourist ventures; as well as some continued military presence, including a future role in the new Òstar warsÓ space defense initiative. The expansive abandoned facilities can seem strange and eerie at times; for example, when driving by the $11M Navy barracks building (complete with furniture and lamps visible in the windows) that was built in 1995 but was never occupied.
ITINERARY
DAY ONE: We meet
at the Coast Hotel at 6:30 PM for our trip to dinner, at downtown Orso, one of
our favorite Anchorage Restaurants. After dinner, we do a bit of birding in the
area. We will be dining at
ORSO. After dinner, weÕll do a bit of birding around Anchorage, so be sure to bring your binoculars.
LODGING: Anchorage, Coast
International Hotel, 907 243 2233.
DAY TWO TO
EIGHT: Depart for Adak about 9:30 AM. Flight is about 2 hours on Alaska Air 737 (jetliner) or 3 hours if we make a fuel stop first. WeÕll be staying in fairly new townhouses that once belonged to the Navy. Each town house has two double rooms, 2 full baths, ½ bath, and a kitchen. WeÕll be eating at VioletÕs Bake & Tackle. She always has good food with a nice variety.
LODGING: Adak, Hotel Adak, (each townhouse has a private
phone)
BIRDING LOCATIONS:
There are many locations on
the road system. These are some of the major ones:
CONTRACTORÕS CAMP: A marshland interspersed with numerous, abandoned buildings. The marsh area is good for shorebirds, and we will usually walk it twice a day.
CLAM LAGOON: Large lagoon
about 30 minutes from our lodging. Many waterfowl including murrelets and ducks
reside there. It can sometimes be a good location for shorebirds as well.
AIRPORT SLOUGH PONDS: A
series of small ponds located along the runway. Smew, Tufted Duck, Eurasian
Wigeon have all been found here.
MOUNT ADAGDIAK (abandoned
LORAN station): Overlooks the ocean, and is an excellent location for spotting
Laysan Albatross, Short-tailed Shearwater, distant Whiskered Auklet.
LAKE ANDREW: Large freshwater
lake that sometimes has vagrant passerines and shorebirds.
PELAGIC TRIP. We have arrangements to use a small charter fishing
boat for pelagic trips. Our Captain, Al Giddings of the Homeward Bound, is an excellent and very knowledgeable guide to the
area. His boat can take four birders, in addition to the captain. We have
enough time during the several days on Adak to schedule boat trips in favorable
conditions. We are able to get very close to Whiskered Auklets that are calling
and displaying. Laysan Albatross, Short-tailed Shearwater, Kittlitz Murrelet,
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel can usually be seen up close and personal as well.
CLOTHING &
EQUIPMENT
Provided closer to departure
date.
RECOMMENDED
GUIDES
v
Field Guide to the
Birds of North America. Third or Fourth Edition, National Geographic
Society.
v
The Sibley Guide to
Birds, 2000, David A. Sibley; Alfred A. Knopf
v
Guide to the Birds of
Alaska, Fourth Edition, 1995, Robert H. Armstrong; Alaska Northwest Books
v
Shorebirds of North
America, 1995, Dennis Paulson, University of Washington Press
v
Mammals of Alaska
1996 Alaska Geographic Society.
v
Field Guide to
Alaskan Wildflowers, 1996, Verna E. Pratt, Alaskakrafts, Inc.
v
Guide to Marine
Mammals of Alaska, 1997. Kate Wynee, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
READINGS: THE ALASKA EXPERIENCE
v
Living on the Edge.Spike
Walker. Wonderfully descriptive book about Dutch Harbor and crabbing in the
Bering Sea. .
v
Arctic Dreams.
Barry Lopez. Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction about the High Arctic. Beautifully
written!
v
Any book by Dana
Stabenow, an Alaska mystery writer whose books are enjoyable a very informative
about Alaska native life.
FOR RESERVATION
OR FURTHER INFORMATION
HIGH LONESOME BIRDTOURS
570 S. Little Bear Trail, Sierra
Vista, AZ 85635
Phone (520) 458-9446 or
1-800-743-2668
Email: hilone@hilonesome.com
Website: www.hilonesome.com