AK - Barrow

Red Phalarope - Barrow, Alaska. June 18th, 2017.

After meeting up in Anchorage on June 15th, the Birdfinders tour of  Alaska really got underway with a three day trip to Barrow. Some shorebirds, including Red Phalaropes and Pectoral Sandpipers appeared to be abundant in certain patches of wet tundra and a White-rumped Sandpiper in breeding plumage was a highlight for some. Tundra predators such as Snowy Owls and Long-tailed Jaegers were in short supply this year but, as usual, the eiders were very much the highlight of a visit to Barrow with Spectacled, Steller's and King Eiders all seen well along with larger numbers of Common Eiders migrating over the Chukchi Sea. Red-throated and Pacific Loons were also present in decent numbers and there was a fly-over Yellow-billed Loon for a lucky few within our group. Once again, Polar Bear eluded us, and we were shown crushing iphone shots of one of the ice near gas station taken just two days before we arrived!

Spectacled Eider (first-summer male) - Barrow, Alaska. June 18th, 2017.

Spectacled Eider (adult male) - Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017. 

Spectacled Eider (adult male) - Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017. 

Steller's Eider (adult male) - Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017.  

Steller's Eider (adult female) - Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017.

Common Eiders  - migrating over the Chukchi Sea, Barrow, Alaska. June 17th, 2017.  

Chukchi Sea looking towards Point Barrow - still iced up in mid-June. 

Overlooking the Chukchi Sea just south of Barrow.

Red throated Loon - Barrow, Alaska. June 18th, 2017.

Yellow-billed Loon - over Stevenston Street, Barrow, Alaska. June 16th, 2017.

One of the first loons of  the trip,  seen early on our first day in Barrow. Unfortunately this bird had passed quietly overhead before we realized that it had the potential to be a Yellow-billed. It appeared to be in active migration and turned out to the only the Yellow-billed Loon that we saw in Barrow. Those who missed it eventually caught up with a couple of first-summer Yellow-billed Loons on St.Paul Island much later in the tour.

Red Phalaropes - Barrow, Alaska. June 16th, 2017.

Long-billed Dowitcher - Barrow, Alaska. June 16th, 2017.

White-rumped Sandpiper - Barrow, Alaska. June 18th, 2017.

We enjoyed point-blank views of this bird courtesy of a High Lonesome/Rockjumper tour - thanks Stephan and Forrest!

MA - post Sandy - Red Phalaropes in the Pioneer Valley

Update: Seth Kellogg kindly provided the following summary of Red Phalarope records for Western Massachusetts since 1950;

May 8, 1958 in Greenfield
Oct 10-11, 1959 at Onota
June 6, 1965 in Springfield
Sept 4, 1968 in Hadley
Sept 17, 1982 in Longmeadow
Oct 14, 1968 at Quabbin
Oct 2, 2002 in Hadley
Sept 12-15, 2003 in Westfield
Nov 9, 2003 at Onota

Clearly very rare in the interior, the two records below furnishing the 10th and 11th records for Western Massachusetts. 

Despite going out during and immediately after Hurricane Sandy, I came up pretty empty when it came down to truly storm driven bird species. When Brian Kane called with news of a Red Phalarope at the Turner's Falls power canal on the morning of October 30th I thought my luck was beginning to change but the more he described, the more I realized I was going to have difficulty re-finding his bird. It turns out that his Red Phalarope hadn't settled and actually flew up river towards Barton Cove. Despite a thorough search of the cove about 30 minutes after Brian's sighting, I couldn't relocate the phalarope. Still, it was a fantastic record and one of only a handful to be recorded in the Pioneer Valley.

Fast forward to November 1st when Noah Charney (co-author of 'Tracks and Signs of Insects and other Invertebrates - A Guide to North American Species') was out with his students on the Mount Holyoke College campus and picked a "very freshly dead" bird by the campus stream. Noah quickly circulated an image amongst his birding colleagues firmly establishing the bird's identity as a Red Phalarope, the second in the Pioneer Valley in a matter of days and a species not infrequently snarled up in hurricane activity. 

Images appear with permission, courtesy of Noah D. Charney;

Red Phalarope - Mount Holyoke College campus, South Hadley, Hamsphire Co., MA. Found freshly dead at 14:00 hours, November 1st, 2012. Noah. D. Charney.