ALASKA 
These prenile and adult Caspian Terns were photographed 14 August 2008 at Gustavus, Alaska, where numbers have been 
increasing over the past few years during the month of August. Photograph by Mat K. DrumheHer. 
viewed but may prove adequate for substanti- 
ating Alaska’s first record. 
Fall storms always seem to scatter gulls 
across the periphery, with this year’s highlights 
focused at the usual coastal spots, including 
10+ Sabine’s Gulls around the Homer Spit 13 
Aug (AL, D'WS), where singles are occasional; 
a second-cycle Black-tailed Gull in the Bering 
Sea at St. Paul I. 4 Sep (St. Paul Tour, ph. SS), 
which constituted a 2nd Pribilofs record; a 
kamtschatschensis Mew Gull photographed at 
Juneau from late Jul-15 Sep (RJG, ph. PMS), 
the first Southeast record for Asian subspecies; 
and up to 4 ad. Slaty-backed Gulls around Ko- 
diak 15 Sep-20 Oct ObA, ph. RAM). A late 
shipboard survey in the ne. Bering Sea pro- 
duced 20 Ross’s Gulls on transects between 
Icy Cape and Nome 10-19 Nov (AL), all pre- 
sumably associated with new sea ice or the 
leading edge of the winter’s ice advance. An 
ad. Ring-billed Gull at Kodiak 16-20 Sep (ph. 
RAM) was the only one from South-coastal 
Alaska this fall, while a third-cycle gull at 
Ketchikan 19 Sep (SCH) was judged to be a 
pure Western Gull. Westerns, and Glaucous- 
winged Gull X Western Gull hybrids, are near- 
ly annual in s. Southeast mostly in the 
Ketchikan area. Glaucous Gulls made a strong 
and early showing in Southeast, with birds re- 
ported frlom Juneau 19 Aug (PMS), Sitka 16 
Sep and 25 Nov (MLW, MET), and Ketchikan, 
where up to 6 were noted 25 Sep-16 Nov 
(AWP, SCH). As has been the case in recent 
falls, Caspian Terns surfaced in good numbers 
in the Gustavus/Glacier Bay area in Aug, with 
this year’s maximum count of 16 ads. and 8 
juvs. from 19 Aug (ph. NKD). 
N. Bering Sea alcids made news this season, 
highlighted by up 5 Kittlitz’s Murrelets 31 
Aug-18 Sep (Wings, Inc.; Wilderness Tours); 
an unusually strong season showing of An- 
cient Murrelets, with birds seen on 13 dates 
including high tallies of 21 on 10 Sep and 127 
on 14 Sep (PEL); and a new northernmost 
Bering Sea record of Rhinoceros Auklet 28 
Aug, all from the Point at Gambell (tPEL). 
All three species are rare at best in the n. half 
of the Bering Sea as fall dispersants. A Para- 
keet Auklet observed in Cross Sound 5 Aug 
(MWS, PMS) was one of very few Southeast 
records away from the three large seabird 
colonies on the outer Southeast coast. 
Although regular visitors in summer. Band- 
tailed Pigeons typically exit Southeast breed- 
ing sites in Aug, so an imm. at a Ketchikan 
feeder 25 Sep was getting tardy, and another 
at the same feeder 15 Oct was the latest local 
record (ph. IF, CAE, ph. KD). Eight Mourning 
Dove reports (m.ob.) in Southeast between 12 
Sep and 4 Nov from six localities was a fairly 
typical showing for this rare annual fall mi- 
grant. Southeast birders 
produced the season’s in- 
teresting owl reports, al- 
though the Boreal Owl in 
Ketchikan 8 Nov (CT 
ph.), a 3rd local record, 
was the only real notable 
find. A hepatic-morph 
Common Cuckoo pho- 
tographed at a remote 
North Slope homestead 
9-11 Sep (ph. DH, JH) 
was a first for Northern 
Alaska and the Region’s 
first Cuculus confirmed to 
species from the few pre- 
vious fall sightings. There 
are only a few Mainland 
records of Cuculus cuck- 
oos, mostly from Jun. 
Common Nighthawk is a rare fall visitor to 
mainland Southeast, where single birds 
showed up this fall at Juneau: one in the 
alpine 20 Aug (PMS), and another in the 
Mendenhall Valley 3 Sep (GB). 
FLYCATCHERS 
THROUGH WARBLERS 
An Olive-sided Flycatcher at Sitka 29-30 Sep 
(W, ph. MRG) provided one of Alaska’s latest 
fall records. Also very late and new for the 
outer Southeast coast at Sitka was a Western 
Wood-Pewee 28-29 Sep CW, ph. MRG). Two 
intriguing Sep Empidonax were late and no- 
table as offshore extralimitals. One that led 
observers around the Gambell middens 6 Sep 
showed most characters of a fresh Willow Fly- 
catcher, especially the lack of eye-ring, al- 
though photographs were inconclusive (ph. 
AL, Wilderness Tours, GB, ph. AS, tPEL). 
With no Bering Sea documented Alder or Wil- 
low record, and given the absence of heard 
calls or a specimen, it is probably best to con- r 
sign this record to AlderAVillow Flycatcher. 
Another AlderAVillow came aboard a ship I 
some 224 km offshore in the North Gulf 16 
Sep (BB). Observers at a North Slope site pho- [ 
tographed yet another Empidonax, which most 
resembled a worn ad. Alder Flycatcher 9 Sep j 
(ph. JH); there is at least one prior report from 'j 
this area, also in fall. A bird described as a ’] 
“Hammond’s-like” Flycatcher 4 Oct (RJG) in ' 
Juneau was one of very few Oct Empidonax E 
records for the state. Notable offshore in the I 
North Gulf, where there are only scattered I 
records, was a Say’s Phoebe described from 
Shangin Bay, Shuyak I. 16 Aug (SP, LT), a 2nd 
record for the Kodiak islands group. Getting 
late and away from the pattern of usual fall re- 
ports from late Aug-early Sep was an Eastern 
Kingbird at Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay N.M. i 
21 Sep (EM, ph. NKD), a 4th local record. 
Another Brown Shrike reached Gambell 2-4 
Sep (vt. PEL, Wilderness Tours et al). This juv. 
furnished the 2nd St. Lavwence I. fall report in 
as many years. Bering Sea Warbling Vireos con- 
tinued a string of fall reports, probably because 
of increased coverage. Singles were described at 
Gambell 29 Aug (Wings, Inc.) and at St. Paul I. 
18 Sep (St. Paul Tour). There are now five fall 
records from Gambell and two from the Pri- 
bilofs. Following a northward expansion in the 
This Swamp Sparrow was photographed near Ketchikan, Alaska IS November 2008. It is 
unusual to see Swamp Sparrows in Alaska in the open long enough to get a good photo- 
graph. The species is casual in the state, mostly in fail, and most records come from the 
Ketchikan area. Photograph byJ. H. Lewis. 
140 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
