GRAND ALASKA: NOME & GAMBELL MAY 29–JUNE 8, 2021 Bluethroat (male), Teller Road, Nome, AK (© Kevin J. Zimmer) LEADER: KEVIN ZIMMER LIST COMPILED BY: KEVIN ZIMMER VICTOR EMANUEL NATURE TOURS, INC. 2525 WALLINGWOOD DRIVE, SUITE 1003 AUSTIN, TEXAS 78746 WWW.VENTBIRD.COM GRAND ALASKA: NOME & GAMBELL MAY 29–JUNE 8, 2021 By Kevin Zimmer Long-tailed Jaeger, Gambell, AK (© Kevin J. Zimmer) Following a most enjoyable Kenai Peninsula & Anchorage Pre-Trip that netted a wealth of boreal forest breeders, nesting seabirds, and special mammals, we convened our full group in Anchorage, and then headed north to Nome the next morning to kick off the Nome & Gambell tour. There is probably no North American tour that I more eagerly look forward to than this one, even after more than 30 years of doing this combo (Nome + Gambell) in one incarnation or another. The promise of numerous iconic Alaskan tundra-breeding specialties, combined with the very real potential for multiple Asiatic vagrants—not to mention some glamour mammals—and spectacular scenery and tundra wildflowers, all make for an exciting birding adventure with more than a bit of a wilderness feel to it. www.ventbird.com 2 Grand Alaska: Nome & Gambell, 2021 The stretch of the Council Road that skirts the coastline of Norton Sound from the Nome River mouth, around Cape Nome, and on to Solomon is always the most dynamic place for birding in the Nome region, and seldom fails to deliver something good or unexpected. Our first afternoon drive provided the expected introduction to many of Nome’s tundra breeders, as well as to many of the regular spring migrants. After the usual first stop at the dredge ponds on the outskirts of town for close Red-throated Loons, Long-tailed Ducks, Greater Scaup, Arctic Terns, and Red-necked Phalaropes, we made our way to the bridge over the Nome River mouth. A quick scan revealed that low tides were exposing extensive mud flats heaving with shorebirds, and that most of them could be viewed to better advantage from the beach side of the river mouth. So, we backtracked to the sandy track leading down to the beach and hiked over the sand to the best viewing area, in the process, scoring our first Eastern Yellow Wagtails of the trip. A narrow barrier strip of sandbar on the ocean side produced a Black Turnstone and a Pectoral Sandpiper, but the real action was in the tidal basin of the river mouth itself, where masses of hyperactive shorebirds (mostly Western and Semipalmated sandpipers) swarmed around an assortment of loafing waterfowl, gulls, and terns. It didn’t take long to determine that Aleutian Terns were more conspicuous than usual, as calling groups of birds flew back-and-forth, bathed in the shallow waters, or actively courted, with many males carrying small fish to their would-be mates as courtship enticements. I was most interested in securing good scope views for everyone of the handful of Bar- tailed Godwits that I had seen distantly from the bridge. This trans-Beringian migrant is one of the true breeding specialties of the Nome region, and one that can prove problematic to find during a short visit, so I wanted to make sure that everyone had good looks while there were several relatively close in front of us. These big shorebirds are sexually dimorphic: females are distinctly larger-bodied and longer-billed, but are rather drab and pallid buff in color, whereas the smaller, shorter-billed males are rich cinnamon- orange below. Scanning the godwits for a more richly colored example, I swung my scope onto an obviously rusty individual, only to see that it was a Hudsonian Godwit— an expected breeding species in the muskeg and bogs of southern Alaska (and one that we had seen nicely during the Pre-Trip in Anchorage), but a real rarity in the Nome region, where I have seen it on only two or three other occasions. It was a real treat to have side by side comparisons of a Hudsonian Godwit and 6 different Bar-tailed Godwits! More scope work soon yielded several Red Phalaropes, strictly migrants in the Nome region, in among the more common and expected Red-necked Phalaropes, which nest in the Nome area. A lone Sabine’s Gull, elegant in full breeding plumage, with a yellow-tipped black bill that appears as if it had been dipped in mustard, rounded out the bonanza of great birds at this, our first real birding stop of the tour. www.ventbird.com 3 Grand Alaska: Nome & Gambell, 2021 Hudsonian Godwit, Nome River mouth, Nome, AK, 5/30/21 (© Kevin J. Zimmer) We had spent more time at the river mouth than anticipated, and it was already getting very late in the afternoon, so I made fewer stops than usual en route to Safety Lagoon. The extensive lagoon and its outlet at Safety Sound were quieter than usual, but still yielded Tundra Swans, more than 75 Brant, Sandhill Cranes, Parasitic and Long-tailed Jaegers, and a variety of ducks, highlighted by numerous dressy Common Eiders and 2 male Gadwall (rare this far north). Between MP 18 and MP 19, I stopped to scan a peninsula of exposed mud at the tip of a grassy island in the lagoon. There were numerous shorebirds of different sizes puttering about on the mud, and this particular spot had a proven track record for producing rarities, so a closer look was very much in order. Thermal distortion on this sunny day was extreme, which made scoping distant shorebirds difficult. But, within seconds, I picked out an obvious Lesser Sand-Plover (formerly known as “Mongolian Plover”) from the crowd. This species is a vagrant anywhere in North America, although it has been suspected of breeding on a few occasions elsewhere on the Seward Peninsula and at Gambell, St. Lawrence Island. Over the past 35 years, I’ve seen perhaps 5 or 6 in the Nome area on my annual May-June visits, so this was a good bird indeed. At one point, while attempting to document the plover photographically, I questioned aloud whether I might be seeing 2 Lesser Sand- Plovers through my viewfinder, but the distance was so great, the thermal distortion so bad, and all of the shorebirds on the mud flat were moving around so much, that I soon abandoned the idea, particularly since no one else seemed to be seeing two of these rare plovers. Only after returning home, where I could view my photos greatly magnified on the computer screen, was I able to confirm that I had, in fact, taken several photos with 2 Lesser Sand-Plovers identifiable in the frame! We turned around before reaching Solomon, and headed back to town for dinner. We had gotten off to a rousing start, and www.ventbird.com 4 Grand Alaska: Nome & Gambell, 2021 there would be more chances to bird the Council Road more thoroughly in the coming days. As always, our days in the Nome region were filled with special sightings. It was a down year for ptarmigan, which are notoriously cyclical in their population fluctuations, but we still managed great studies of multiple Willow Ptarmigan along the Teller and Kougarok roads, and of a single male Rock Ptarmigan well off the Teller Road. We were able to hike up for close views of the Rock Ptarmigan, which remained rooted to its spot, overly confident in the ability of its cryptic plumage to conceal it from view. The two species of ptarmigan comprise the primary prey base for Gyrfalcons, so a poor ptarmigan crop typically means that Gyrs are also thin on the ground. Such was certainly the case this year, as only one of the many traditional Gyrfalcon nesting sites along the Nome road system appeared to be active. This was in stark contrast to our last visit here in 2019, when we were averaging 20–30 Willow Ptarmigan seen/day, and I knew of at least 3 actively nesting Gyrfalcon pairs. Repeated nice studies of the omnipresent Long-tailed and Parasitic jaegers, along with a plethora of breeding-plumaged shorebirds that included Wandering Tattler, Black-bellied Plover, both species of golden-plovers, and Surfbird, were among the daily highlights. Northern Shrikes were more conspicuous than usual; American Dippers had returned to nest at Penny River; perky Northern Wheatears were in their usual spots; and seemingly every alpine thicket rang with the plaintive, pure songs of Golden-crowned Sparrows, while Northern Waterthrushes belted out their exuberant songs from the tallest Felt-Leaf Willows along every watercourse. In and amongst the many avian highlights, we were also treated to several encounters with prehistoric-looking Muskox, ranging from gnarly lone bulls to herds with youngsters. We also enjoyed sightings of Moose, Reindeer (an introduced subspecies of Caribou), Alaskan Hare, and American Beaver among the other mammals. www.ventbird.com 5 Grand Alaska: Nome & Gambell, 2021 Muskox, Teller Road, Nome, AK (© Kevin J. Zimmer) As is usually the case, top honors on the lengthy list of Nome highlights were shared between our experience with the iconic Bristle-thighed Curlew and our prolonged studies of a dazzling male Bluethroat, the latter in full skylarking display mode. Since discovering the first known nesting pair of Bluethroats in the Nome area (and, by extension, the first Bluethroats in Alaska that tour groups could access by car) on June 11, 1987, we have never failed to produce these beautiful, “chat-like” Old World Flycatchers during our annual Nome visits. This year, it seemed as if we had arrived right at the beginning of the breeding season, when few Bluethroats were on territory.