The Attu Experience Electra Chartered from Reeve-Aleu- Tian Airlines
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Attu. Forty-five of us flew nonstop from Anchorageto Attu, a distanceof nearly 1,560 miles, in a big Lockheed- The Attu Experience Electra chartered from Reeve-Aleu- tian Airlines. We landed in a misera- ble drizzle at the 1oran station oper- Roger Tory Peterson ated by the United States Coast Guard. While our 8,000 pounds of luggagewere transportedby truck, we all walked the three miles in the wind As one cynic commented,"You pay and wetness to two ramshackle build- for theprivilege of sufjring [the hor- ingswhich would become our bed and board for the next three weeks. rible weather]for three weeksin a place In the nearby bicycleshed there was nobodyhas evenheard of"... but the a bike for everyone,more than 50 of "Attu-class" birders see it all them, becausepedaling would be the most time-saving way of getting to verydifferently. someof the good spots.But basically we would walk and walk and walk-- XAMINEA WORLDMAP OR A planefrom Anchorage(about $25,000 or even run, or climb hills--if there globe.You will note that the In- roundtrip) or sail his own ocean-going was something really good. ternational Date Line, the arbi- vessel. Although there was an efficient trary line that separatesone day from Larry Balch's campouts (under the crew in the kitchen, each of us was the next--the Old World from the insignia Attour) were started in 1978 assigneda specialduty, suchas wash- New--takes a triangular jog west of and have piled up an impressiverec- ing or drying the dishes,fixing nuts Alaska. This was contrived so that ord of "firsts" during these twelve and bolts on the bikes, tidying the Attu and the nearby islands, which years. I joined the group in May, showeror the latrine. My own assign- belongto the United Statespolitically, 1982, for what proved to be the best ment was to slice the bacon in the would be in the same time frame as season they had experienced up to morning. the rest of North America. that point. After our mealswe did not go afield However, Attu, far-flung off the tip One might contend that it would enmasse;we would split up and take of the Aleutian chain, is much closer have been lessexpensive for me to fly differentdirections. Whenever a great to Siberia than it is to mainland to Japan where I could seethose same rarity turned up--a Red-flanked Alaska. Logicallythen, shouldn'tit be birds more easily and in larger num- Bluetail, a Pechora Pipit, or a Haw- regarded as Asia? The birds seem to bers, but I had already done that two finch--its discoverywas broadcastby point this out. Only one residentpas- or three times. I wanted the Attu ex- walkie-talkie. Even if the bird was sefine, the dark, oversizedrace of the perience so as to handle the Asian miles away, everyone, no matter Song Sparrow, can be called strictly strays more judiciously in the new where they were, hopped on their North American. A number of others, western Field Guide. Most of these bikes or startedwalking fast. "Death such as the Winter Wren, Common specialbirds from Asia were not illus- Marches," we called them. Redpoll, Snow Bunting, Lapland trated or even described in the pre- Becausethe roads were rocky and Longspur and Rosy Finch, are cir- viousedition (1961). A lot can happen the airstrips limited, bikes could be cumpolar or "holarctic;" widespread in 30 years. Birds have wings, and so used for little more than six or seven in both the New World and the Old. do some bird watchers. miles; the rest of the way was hard However, the magnet that pulls so My field guides are designedto be walking. Some of us coveredas much many hardcore listchasersto Attu is "user friendly." They are not arranged as 20 or even 30 miles in a day, which the fact that Asian migrants,traveling in the rigid systematicorder of the did my legsno good. Not having rid- from Japan to Siberia, are often moment. The checklist in the back of den a bike since I was a teenager, I caught in westerly winds during foul the book takes care of that, and can sufferedseveral nasty spills. My right weather and make a landfall on the easily be modified when changes in leg below the knee swelled to twice its barren shoresand slopesof Attu. For taxonomy dictate. With easeof use in normal size,or so it seemed,and three the birder, these are legitimate addi- mind, I have not integrated most of of the medicalmen in our group, after tions to their North American list. In the straysfrom Asia into the main run poking it a bit, ventured the opinion fact, the only sureway for a birder to of color plates that show the species that I had developed some sort of passthe 700 mark is to spend at least that are widespread in western North deep-vein phlebitis. one or two May migrationson Attu. America. They are on separateplates How the otherstook all this punish- Because of the initiative of one such as the three shown here. The ment was remarkable. Except for two man, Larry Balch, membership in the Asian "peeps"or "stints" are also seg- or three of our young leaders,few were "700 Club" has been growing year by regated, as are the stray pipits, wag- under 40. To afford the time and ex- year. Before Larry organizedhis spe- tails, and a few others. pense of all this, most of them were cial tours, about the only way the Whenever I look at these three retireesin the 50s or 60s, toughened average civilian could visit these far- plates with their smorgasbordof rari- by a lifetime of birding. flung islands was to charter a small ties I have many fond flashbacksof Foul weather days were the best for 22 American Birds, Spring 1990 birds, lost waifs far from home. Blue the best were Bean Goose, Faicated In more recent yearsthe birders have sky days, fair weather days, were the Teal, Garganey, Common Pochard, added a few names of their own: Bull- poorest. Then Noble Proctor, whom Smew, White-tailed Eagle (which was finch Pass,Funny Duck Marsh, King- Larry hascalled the "world's besttour nesting), Mongolian Plover, Spotted fisher Creek, and Tattler Creek. leader," kept everyone from being Redshank, Common Greenshank, Much of our birding amidst the boredby botanizing.Getting down on Wood Sandpiper, Terek Sandpiper, rustedbunkers and Quonset huts near his knees he became rapturous about Temminck's Stint, Long-toed Stint, camp reminded us of the death throes moonworts, equisetums, and other Slaty-backed Gull, Eyebrowed of the Japaneseand American con- ground-hugging goodies. Although Thrush, Siberian Rubythroat, Gray- flict: remains of small aircraft, dis- bird listing may be a game or a sport, spotted Flycatcher, Black-backed abled landing craft, skeletonsof vehi- it inevitably leadsto ecologicalsensi- Wagtail, Gray Wagtail, PechoraPipit, cles,collapsed oil tanks. Slit trenches, tivity and environmental awareness. Olive Tree-Pipit, Brambling, Haw- all but concealed, made walking One day two boat people, a man finch, Common Rosefinch, Oriental treacherous.Snow Buntingssang atop from Franceand his young wife from Greenfinch, Rustic Bunting, Com- vast heapsof rusty steel drums and Tennessee, who had built a small mon Reed-Bunting, and a number of probably nestedamongst them. sloop in Australia and were sailing others, all of which are now shown in One cyniccommented (with tongue around the world, limped into our color in the new western Field Guide. in cheek): "Anybody has to be a ma- landing having been struck and dis- Although Attu is the Number One sochist to brave the horrible Attu abled in the night, two weeks earlier, hotspotfor Asian strays,they should weather just to see some fool bird. by a ship somewhereoff Japan. Not also be looked for elsewhere in the There are just millions of birds in the knowing whether the natives at Attu Bering Sea area (Pribilofs, St. Law- lower48 for anyoneto see.Why spend would be friendly or not, they found rence Island, the western flank of a great deal of money to come all the themselvesamongst this weird lot who Alaska, etc.), and very rarely south- way up herejust to torture yourselfin could talk of nothing but birds. After ward along the coast. the most grueling, miserable living a coupleof welcome mealsthey recip- Attu, originally pristine, was the conditions.These freaksactually pay rocatedby taking a selectgroup of us scene of one of the most vicious and for the privilegeof sufferingfor three well offshore where Laysan Alba- indeed needless battles of World War whole weeks in a place nobody has trossesand petrels were added to the II. Place names hint of past violence even heard of. Unbdievable!" list. going back to Russian days: Murder But the "Attu-class" birders see it As for my own North American list, Point, MassacreBay, MassacreValley all very differently. ß I added about 27, althoughonly seven (there is also a PeacefulValley), Ter- were new for my World list. Among rible Mountain, Devil Mountain, etc. ßALASKAN STRAYS FROM ASIA. On the next three plates a number of rarities from Asia are shown. Whereasthe shoresand islandsof the BeringSea have producedmost records,a very few have occurred south along the Pacific Coast. A few other Alaskan strayshave been shown on previousplates: waterfowl, sandpipers,wagtails, pipits, and swifts.For further information,A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe.For other possibilities,see A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan(Wild Bird Societyof Japan). PLATE 353 COMMON HOUSE MARTIN Delichon urbica 8" (20 cm).