ALASKA 
Far from its favored arboreal habitats, this Havvfinch frequented tundra 
thickets outside Nome, Alaska on 4 and (here) 5 June 2009. There are 
now three Alaskan Mainland records of this casual spring migrant, typi- 
cally recorded in the western Aleutians. Photograph by Aaron Lang. 
Precisely within the pattern of the previous 
few spring reports, another Purple Martin was 
at Xanana Lakes in Fairbanks 30 May (ph. NH, 
JD, ND), where most of the handful of Interi- 
or reports have originated. Martins remain ca- 
sual in the Region, mainly as spring over- 
shoots. The season’s only Northern Rough- 
winged Swallows included migrant pairs at 
two Ketchikan area sites 3 & 11 May (AWP) 
and 9 May (AWP, SCH). This rare spring mi- 
grant and very local breeder reaches a few 
mainland sites and adjacent islands near river 
mouths in s. Southeast. It was otherwise a qui- 
et season for extralimital swallows. Others in- 
cluded a Bank Swallow at Attu 23 May (DWS, 
JW), where the species is occasional, and a 
Cliff Swallow that drifted into the Aleutians, 
where casual, on Adak 16-20 May (Wilderness 
Birding, ph. AL). The lone Black-capped 
Chickadee that wandered beyond the boreal 
forest to the Bering Sea coast at Shishmaref 4 
May (ph. NA) was not without precedent for 
this part of w. Alaska. The closest regular 
breeding sites are e. of here in the w. foothill 
thickets approaching Kotzebue Sound and the 
Nulato Hills, although Black-cappeds are oc- 
casional in Nome, and there is one previous 
Shishmaref record from six years prior. 
A Taiga Flycatcher on St. Paul I. 29 May (St. 
Paul Tour; tSL) was only the 2nd ever for the 
Pribilofs and the season’s lone report. The usu- 
al small numbers of Mountain Bluebirds 
reached most favored spring sites in Southeast, 
with 2 in Juneau 18 Apr (GP), one in Gustavus 
3 May (ph. NKD), and 2 near Skagway 16 Apr 
(CAF). Following recent years’ poor showings 
in the Interior, Mountain Bluebirds fared well 
there, with single males up the Taylor Hwy. 18 
Apr (SU), near Delta Junction 18 May 
(A.B.O.), where they occasionally nest, and 
farther w. at Fairbanks 23 May (A.B.O.). A fe- 
male was exceptionally late in Hyder 28-30 
May ODL), where the species has attempted to 
nest. Elusive as always in Southeast, where the 
species is a rare migrant and often undetected, 
Townsend’s Solitaires were widely reported this 
season. Singles were at Gustavus 3 May 
(NKD), at Wrangell 23 May (BHD, CLR), and 
at Hyder 29 & 31 May QDL). Another Swain- 
son’s Thrush pushed offshore into the Bering 
Sea, where casual, to the Gambell middens 6 
Jun (WINGS, tCC), about the 4th in spring 
there. A few Eyebrowed Thrushes were detect- 
ed in what was otherwise a below-average sea- 
son for Asian passerines, including a single on 
Attu 25 May (DWS, JW) and up to 4 on St. 
Paul 1. 20 May+ (St. Paul Tour, ph. SS), where 
casual. A handsome Dusky Thrush was docu- 
mented as it skulked around St. Paul village 22 
May (St. Paul Tour, ph. SS, Wilderness Birding, 
ph. AL), a 3rd record for the Pribilofs. 
WARBLERS THROUGH 
HOUSE SPARROW 
Because so many of the regular warbler 
species were late to materialize across 
the Region, there is little to report on 
most of them, other than a few early- 
ish reports for some species and loca- 
tions. Orange-crowned Warblers were 
generally delayed and slow to occupy 
breeding sites, at least in the North 
Gulf perimeter. One of the Kodiak win- 
ter birds remained at its favored site 
through 8 Mar (RAM). This is a typical 
pattern for rare passerines that manage 
to survive a winter, usually at a coastal 
feeder, in that they all end up departing 
their food source well ahead of what is 
the otherwise normal arrival period for 
that species — i.e., they nearly always leave a 
winter site between early Mar and early Apr, 
to go who knows where. A Yellow Warbler 
that arrived 10 May at Ketchikan (AWP, SCH) 
was considered that site’s 3rd earliest on 
record. Several sites mentioned extremely late 
arrival dates for Townsend’s Warblers, espe- 
cially Ketchikan, where the species was first 
noted 27 Apr (AWP), nearly two weeks tardy. 
It wasn’t until early May that Townsend’s were 
singing on the Anchorage hillside. 
A suite of wintering sparrows remained at 
Southeast feeders variously into Apr, includ- 
ing: an American Tree Sparrow through 28 Apr 
in Ketchikan O^K). which constituted a new 
late date; single White-throated Sparrows at 
Ketchikan through 23 Apr (SCH), in Douglas 
near Juneau through 23 Apr (PMS) and anoth- 
er there through 14 Apr (JC); and a Harris’s 
Sparrow through 4 Apr in Ketchikan OHL). A 
wintering Savannah Sparrow in Kodiak, re- 
mained at its grassy patch at Narrow Cape 
through 7 Mar (RAM, RLS), while another Sa- 
vannah located at Kalsin Bay on the Kodiak 
road network 9 Apr (RAM.) was also consid- 
ered a wintering individual. Three American 
Tree Sparrows that reached the Bering Sea 
coast at Shismaref 17 May (KS) overshot their 
Seward Pen. breeding sites, which do not in- 
clude coastal lowlands or Shishmaref Inlet. A 
Chipping Sparrow furnished a first spring re- 
port at Ketchikan 19 Apr (ph. KMR), where 
there are only five total previous records. Chip- 
ping Sparrow is very rare away from the South- 
east mainland, and because most migrate into 
the Region in early May, the date of this 
Ketchikan record suggests that this bird win- 
tered in the vicinity. Two zaboria Fox Sparrows 
were pioneering coastal thickets at the Bering 
Sea village of Shishmaref 17 May (KS), where 
overshoots from more upland breeding sites 
are occasional in spring. White-crowned Spar- 
rows made a strong showing in s. Southeast at 
Ketchikan and Wrangell, e.g. up to 7 at one 
Ketchikan feeder, where they are typically “far 
outnumbered” by Golden-crowneds. Amongst 
the Ketchikan White-crowneds was a Golden- 
crowned Sparrow x White-crowned Sparrow 
hybrid 9 May (ph. SCH) and a black-lored 
White-crowned 6 May (SCH, ph. AWP). A 
group of 8 White-crowned Sparrows at Kodiak 
7 Mar (RAM, RLS) punctuated the fine winter 
season there and constituted the highest one- 
day total ever for this North Gulf island group, 
where the species does not nest. Joining the 
other Shishmaref overshoots on the Bering Sea 
coast was a single Golden-crowned Sparrow 17 
May (KS). This species, along with Dark-eyed 
Junco and White-crowned Sparrow, are often 
the most regular boreal forest or inland passer- 
ines to turn up at Seward Pen. village sites on 
the coast. Given that Rustic Buntings seem to 
have become less common since they appeared 
annually in the 1980s and 1990s, the species 
made a good showing this year. There were re- 
ports of singles on Attu 17, 20, & 21 May 
(DWS, JW), of one on St. Paul I. 28 May-r (St. 
Paul Tour, ph. SS), where casual, and of 2 at 
Gambell 26-28 May (DM). 
A male Black-headed Grosbeak turned up 
at a Stikine R. mouth home 19-21 May (BN), 
and another visited a Wrangell feeder 31 
May-2 Jun (ph. BHD) a few miles s. of there. 
The species breeds regularly n. to at least s. 
British Columbia, and its range has steadily 
expanded there over the past 50 years. There 
were only three total Alaska records prior to 
1995, but since then it has become a rare, 
probably annual late spring and early summer 
visitant in Southeast. A female or imm. male 
Yellow-headed Blackbird was a great find at 
Hyder 31 May (tJDL), the 2nd report from 
that Southeast hotspot on the Salmon River. 
This species remains casual in spring, sum- 
mer, and early fall in Alaska and breeds as 
close as s. and ne. British Columbia. Spring 
VOLUME 63 (2009) • NUMBER 3 
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