ALASKA 
This South Polar Skua seen from a research vessel west of Cape Edgecombe and 
Kruzof Island, Alaska 30 June 2009 nicely documents this casual summer pelagic 
visitor to the Gulf of Alaska. Photograph by John Calambokidis. 
11 Jun (ph. LAW) and up to 8 in the w.-cen. 
Bering Sea towards Russian waters 23 Jul-2 
Aug (ph. AL, MR), which is where strong 
counts of this recovering species have come 
over the past few years. Short-taileds remain 
rare visitors to Southeast waters. Last noted in 
the Pribilofs in 2003 at the n. periphery of 
their Bering Sea range, a single Double-crest- 
ed Cormorant visited St. Paul 13-18 Jul (St. 
Paul Tour). It appears that at least one Great 
Blue Heron summered offshore in the North 
Gulf at Kodiak 8 Jun-9 Jul (PD, DH), only 
that site’s 2nd at this season, though a few 
typically winter there. 
Northern Harriers are rare in summer in 
Southeast, which lacks suitable nesting habi- 
tat; notable were 2 at Sergief 1. at the mouth of 
the Stikine R. 13 Jun (AWR EWC, JDL, JED), 
one around Gustavus 7 & 9 Jul (NKD), and 
another offshore at Sitka 13 Jun (MRG), 
where the species is a rare migrant as well. An 
ad. Swainson’s Hawk was photographed in 
the alpine zone on Gold Ridge behind Juneau 
26 Jun and 3 Jul (ph. MWS, GBW). This dry 
country species is only sporadically reported 
from e. Alaska, and summer reports from 
Southeast are limited to the Juneau alpine, 
where perhaps non-breeders from points e. of 
the Coast Range might wander. Very rare for 
summer in Southeast, apparent Harlan’s 
Hawks were found in Gustavus 9 6a; 13 Jul 
(NKD) and to the e. at Haines 29 Jun (PMS). 
Harlan’s breeds across cen. Alaska through 
the Yukon Territory into n, British Columbia, 
but their presence in the Haines area in sum- 
mer over the past decade hints at possible 
nesting there, which is not far from their taiga 
forest breeding areas. A female American 
Kestrel seen in the fog near Nome 9 Jun QJ. 
LD) was a rare coastal Seward Pen. record for 
this species, which is more regularly found 
well e. and inland. Equally as odd for the 
North Slope coast, a Merlin was seen over the 
tundra at Barrow 27 Jun (Field Guides), 
where summer extralimitals are occasional. 
The summer’s only Sora re- 
port included 3 all season from 
Juneau’s Pioneer Marsh, one of 
Southeast’s most regular sites 
for this rare summer visitor. 
Notable summer Sandhill 
Crane observations included 5 
at Juneau’s Mendenhall Wet- 
lands 1 Jun followed by singles 
on the 9th and 27th (RJG, 
GBW), at least one bird in 
Gustavus through the season 
(TL), and a lone bird in Indian 
R. valley near Sitka 13 Jun 
(AT), where breeding had been 
suspected in the past (American 
Birds 44: 1171). What are probably Greater 
Sandhill Cranes breed in Southeast only in the 
s. Archipelago, while these northerly reports 
were likely late migrant or non-breeding 
Lessers, the widespread subspecies that breeds 
across the bulk of the Region. 
Shorebird finds were the typical summer 
mix of odd dates or early southbound ads., 
with the handful of Asian species in the Bering 
Sea. Another Killdeer located at Barrow 13 Jun 
(KZ ph.) and 1 Jul (MG, fide MJI) added to the 
batch of North Slope overshoot reports, which 
are mostly from the Barrow tundra. A shore- 
bird that appeared at first 
to be a Ruff to the observ- 
er in wet tundra at Barrow 
6 Jun (ph. RM) turned out 
to be a Common Red- 
shank, Alaska’s first. The 
Common Sandpiper at St. 
Paul 28 Jun (St. Paul 
Tour) was likely a south- 
bound ad., but single 
Common Greenshanks 
continuing from late May 
at St. Paul 1 6l 3 Jun (St. 
Paul Tour) and in the cen. 
Aleutians at Adak 3 Jun 
(ph. IH) were certainly 
late spring birds. An agi- 
tated, defensive pair of 
Solitary Sandpipers was 
noted in muskeg near the 
Ketchikan Airport on 
Gravina 1. 12 Jul (AWR SCH et al.); similar be- 
havior has been seen at this site in two other 
pairs since 2005, and breeding is suspected. A 
Black-tailed Godwit lingered at St. Paul from 
late May through 1 Jun, while another showed 
up there 27 Jun and displayed over marsh 
pools through 4 Jul (St. Paul Tour). There are 
a few scattered mid-summer Black-tailed God- 
wit records from across the Region, and this is 
the Pribilofs’ first since 2000. On the heels of 
last summer’s discovery of nesting Hudsonian 
Godwits near Kanuti L. in the n. Interior 
Koyukuk country s. of Betties, up to 10 fami- 
ly groups and volant young were detected in 
the area between 8 Jun and 13 Jul this season 
(CH et al). While Hudsonians are known to 
nest on coastal sites w. of here, these mark the 
first breeding records for the Interior, where 
the species is mostly a rare, irregular spring 
migrant. A single ad. Hudsonian near Juneau 
5 Jul (RHA) was Southeast’s first of the fall. 
While the lone Marbled Godwit at Juneau’s 
Portland I. 3 Jun (RHA) was a very late mi- 
grant for that locale, another ad. to the s. at 
Ketchikan 20-21 Jul (ph. AWP) provided one 
of very few documented fall reports from 
Southeast. Single ad. Red-necked Stints locat- 
ed in and around Safety Lagoon near Nome 8 
Jun and 12 Jul (Wilderness Birding, AL) and 
at St. Paul 22 Jul (St. Paul Tour) were the sea- 
son’s most interesting reports. With few true 
summer reports, an ad. Temminck’s Stint on 
St. Paul 3-4Jul (St. Paul Tour, ph. SS) was pos- 
sibly about the 3rd ever in Jul. Of the few Ruff 
reports, an ad. at Anchorage’s popular Westch- 
ester Flats 11 Jun (Field Guides, m.ob.) fur- 
nished only the 3rd local record and one of 
few from South-coastal Alaska away from the 
immediate North Gulf Coast, while at least 2 
males initiated a mini-lek 13-15 Jun at Barrow 
(ph. DN), where this species is nearly annual. 
Although 2 Common Snipe were seen in win- 
nowing displays over St. Paul marshes 20 
Jun-23 Jul (St. Paul Tour), actual nesting was 
not suspected. Single Wilson’s Phalaropes 
were located this season, a female in Juneau at 
Ft. Bridget 2 Jun (ph. PMS) and male at that 
location’s Mendenhall Wetlands 19-21 Jul 
(GBW, ph. PAR). Most of the irregular sum- 
mer season reports come from Juneau. 
Getting late were 10 Sabine’s Gulls in low- 
This Western Kingbird, foraging from old posts in the Hyder area's intertidal zone 2 
June 2009, provided this site's eighth record of this casual summer visitor. These old 
posts at Hyder remain the state's best location for both Eastern and Western Kingbirds. 
Photograph by James D. Levison. 
VOLUME 63 (2009) 
NUMBER 4 
639 
