Alaska 
CHUKCHI SEA 
BEAUFORT SEA 
Prudhoe Bay 
Wale^--^ 
Gambell 
Sf. iamence ‘ 
Sf. Matthew I. ^ 
BERING SEA 
ul. /' 
^ R 
Buldir I. 
'' 
Amchitkal. Adakl. 
ThedeTobish 
M ore than most years, spring 2008 
was clearly a tale of two different 
seasons, punctuated at each end by 
weather extremes. The season started with 
cool and inclement conditions and a slow- 
melting, heavy winter snowpack that persist- 
ed well into early May, at which time the 
weather abruptly turned mild and unseason- 
ably warm through the period. The suite of 
typical early season migrants were late across 
the board, especially throughout the North 
Gulf, while species that typically arrive in 
May were right on time. Interior migrants 
were mostly on average schedules. Coverage 
of the Bering Sea periphery and island out- 
posts was subpar this year, as were the result- 
ant finds from those sites where high-pres- 
sure systems or a northerly flow may have im- 
peded Asian migrants and vagrants. Exciting 
results came in from a series of late winter 
Bering Sea pelagic transects, which always 
produce fascinating reports, this year high- 
lighted by rare alcids. 
This season continues what I consider a 
negative trend in field ornithological reporting, 
with many observers content to assume that 
listserve postings constitute formal submis- 
sions of records. Unless there are web links to 
photographs or substantiating details of rari- 
ties noted from these sites, I tend not to in- 
clude such records. Observers should always 
submit reports to regional editor or subregion- 
al editors or the Alaska Checklist Committee. 
The ideal report format is in Microsoft Word. 
record-early arrival date. Two oth- 
er fly-by Tundras were noted in the 
same area on 21 May (IH). Anoth- 
er goose on Adak 18 May appeared 
to be a Taiga Bean-Goose (IH) and 
follows a recent fall report from 
Shemya. Mid-Apr produced a 
strong goose passage 
skagway through Alaska’s South- 
east, highlighted by 
above-average concen- 
trations of Greater 
White-fronted Geese 
and Cackling Geese from 
Ketchikan to Sitka and other 
sites farther north. Five thousand Greater- 
White-fronteds were counted in 2.5 hours, and 
a constant passage of flocks was noted all day, 
at Ketchikan 21 Apr (AWP, SCH), while 1000+ 
Cackling Geese (mostly minima) made a great 
showing for that subspecies, also at Ketchikan 
25 Apr (AWP, SCH, JHL, ph.). A flight of 
mixed goose flocks in Ketchikan 25 Apr (SCH, 
tAWP) included a Ross’s Goose, which is ca- 
sual in the Region, with four prior Southeast 
records. A family group of 5 Trumpeter Swans 
was seen offshore at Kodiak 3 & 22 Mar 
(RAM, RTS), where the species has become in- 
creasingly regular in recent years. Another 
family group of swans, this time Whooper 
Swans from Asia, arrived at Adak’s L. Andrew 
27 Feb and remained there through 6 Mar, 
past decade, where it is now annual in fall, 
winter, or spring. A pair of Falcated Ducks vis- 
ited Adak 27 May-3 Jun (IH), typical of their 
intermittent showings in the cen. and w. Aleu- 
tians, mostly in late May. Of the usual scatter- 
ing of Eurasian Wigeon reports away from the 
regular Bering Sea periphery, the season’s peak 
count was a group of 8 in Homer’s Beluga 
Slough 17 Apr (AF). A Cinnamon Teal pair 
that arrived after the push of regular Interior 
dabbling ducks at an Alaska Hwy. pond (MP 
1330) 14-15 May OR, NH, LD, ph.) was casu- 
al for the e. Interior, where there are few 
records. Cinnamon Teal made a good showing 
in Southeast, where spring overshoots are now 
expected, with 2 males in Juneau 29 Apr-30 
May (m.ob.), a pair in Kake 23-23 May (CS), 
and a male in Gustavus 26 May (NKD). A 
male Eurasian Teal was at Sitka 25 Apr QB-P). 
Aythya ducks were widely reported in South- 
east, where they generally occur in low num- 
bers, highlighted by 7 Canvasbacks in Juneau 
29 Apr (MW), a Redhead at Juneau 26 Apr 
(DWS) and 2 at Gustavus 7-21 May (NKD), 
and up to 17 Ring-necked Ducks at Gustavus 
7 May (NKD). A drake Ring-necked Duck at 
Kodiak 17 Apr (RAM) was considered that 
site’s first spring migrant ever but could have 
wintered there. Two pairs of Common 
Pochards on Attu 13 May (DWS, JW) and an- 
other pair to the e. at Adak 6-13 May (ph. IH) 
were the season’s lone reports. Tufted Ducks 
Now annual in Alaska's Southeast, this drake Wood Duck lingered on Ketchikan's Ward Lake 11-24 (here 14) April 2009. 
Photograph by James H. Lewis. 
Abbreviations: A.B.O. (Alaska B.O., Fair- 
banks); North Gulf (North Gulf of Alaska); 
Referenced details, specimens, photographs, 
videotape, and audiotape are on file at the 
University of Alaska Museum. 
WATERFOWL THROUGH LOONS 
A single Tundra Bean-Goose on the runway 
apron on Adak 6 May (IH) established a new 
while another group of 3 ads. and 3 imms. was 
at the same lake 12 Apr (ph. IH); in Alaska, the 
species is known in winter mostly from the 
cen. Aleutians. 
Single drake Wood Ducks appeared at 
Ketchikan’s Ward F. 11-24 Apr OFK, TLG, 
JHF, ph.) and n. at Wrangell 30 Apr (RC). 
This formerly casual visitor is occurring with 
increasing frequency in Southeast over the 
were nicely spread in average numbers in the 
Aleutians early in the season, highlighted by a 
pair at Unalaska I. in the e. Aleutians 23 Apr 
(AL), where they are occasional. A male Tuft- 
ed Duck in Kodiak’s Womens Bay 15-16 May 
(RAM) was likely a westbound migrant or 
holdover from some North Gulf coastal win- 
tering site. Fesser Scaup reached Bering Sea is- 
lands in decent numbers, with highlights in- 
484 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
