ALASKA 
Following several spring reports from Southeast, 
Eurasian Collared-Doves invaded Southeast 
this season, when more than 35 were located at a dozen 
locations, many of them lingering into Aug. One pair ex- 
hibited courtship behavior at a Juneau site, and they were 
also seen carrying twigs into a spruce tree in mid-Jun (JJ; 
Ude GBVV). No nest was found. The Region's first Eurasian 
Collared-Doves away from Southeast were documented 
this summer, with singles found in the Cordova area 18 
Jun and then 7 Jul (ph. JR, 6M; fide AL) and way n. at the 
McLaren R. near the e. end of the Denali Hwy. 13-19 Jun 
(SE, JD, ph. ND). Eurasian Collared-Dove is increasing in the 
Pacific Northwest {North American Birds 60: 429) and was 
first reported from Alaska in 2006 and 2007. Although col- 
lared-doves are kept in captivity in Alaska (and one of the 
Region's first appeared to be from captive stock), the ap- 
pearance of numerous coilared-doves across Southeast 
and a few points to the n. this Jun suggests a movement 
of birds from areas to the s. rather than local releases. 
ground woods near Skagway 2 Jul (tTE) 
strongly suggested Dusky Flycatcher, which 
has been reported fewer than ten times in the 
Region and mostly as spring or fall migrants. 
The closest breeding areas to Skagway are 
the nearby alpine, tree-limit sites mostly on 
the e. side of the adjacent Coast Range. A 
singing Dusky has been located at the top of 
the pass in British Columbia within a few km 
of the Alaska border. A Western Kingbird 2 
Jun and single Eastern Kingbirds 3 & 22 Jun 
reached Hyder (EWC, JDL, LP, ph.), where 
they are nearly annual, typically found when 
the site is birded in early Jun. Another East- 
ern Kingbird at Barrow 13 Jun (DM, ph. KZ), 
added to the handful of early summer 
records from the North Slope, where the 
most recent report came in 2006. This years 
Cassin’s Vireo push included singles at Ely- 
der 2-4 Jun (EWC, JDL) and Haines 30 Jun 
(PMS), the only known Alaska breeding site, 
and up to 3 were at Juneau through the sea- 
son (m.ob.). Although rare on the Southeast 
islands and outer coast. Warbling Vireos can 
be fairly common in deciduous riparian cor- 
ridors on the Mainland river systems, as evi- 
denced by counts of 45 singing birds along 
the Stikine R. between the Mt. Flemmer cab- 
in and Barnes L. 6 Jun and another 30 noted 
downstream of there between Twin Lakes 
and Sergief 1. 12 Jun (AWP, JDL). These 
counts rival the Region’s previous one-day 
tallies from the Haines area. Only one Red- 
eyed Vireo was found this summer, at Haines 
1-2 Jul (PMS), where there are not many pre- 
vious records. 
Unexpected for the Bering Sea was a lone 
Gray Jay foraging in beach driftwood on an 
islet w. of Shishmaref 1 May (fide KS; ph.). 
There are a few Seward Pen. coastal records, 
mostly from winter, of this boreal forest resi- 
dent that nests on the peninsula’s se. corner. 
Another Purple Martin, at least the 4th, was 
documented out in the Bering Sea at St. Paul 
22 Jun (St. Paul Tour, ph.; Jide SS). The last 
record came from summer 2003. Another 
Cliff Swallow wandered to the Aleutians, 
where the species is a casual late spring/ear- 
ly summer migrant, at Dutch Harbor 20 Jul 
(AL, SG), a first ever for Unalaska Island. 
Bank Swallows are uncommon to locally 
common breeders in suitable habitat on 
Southeast’s Mainland river systems, as evi- 
denced by a small colony of 12 birds at a 
sand bank on Sergief 1. at the Stikine R. 
mouth 13 Jun (AWP, JDL). A single Bank 
Swallow offshore at Hollis on Prince of 
Wales I. 30 Jun (SCH) was rare off the Main- 
land. A flighty Common House-Martin was 
photographed around sea cliffs on Otter 1. in 
the Pribilofs 14 Jun (St. Paul Tour, ph.;Jrde 
SS) — another odd summer Bering Sea 
record, of which there are a few since the 
1980s. The usual scattered extralimital Barn 
Swallows appeared this summer away from 
their known range in Southeast, including 3 
in Solomon near Nome 23 Jun (LD, JDL, AJ) 
and 2 from 24 Jun and 
then another 30 Jun on 
the Arctic coast at the 
Colville R. mouth 30 Jun 
(tJH). Waif Barn Swal- 
lows are nearly annual to 
the n. and w. periphery 
in late Jun-early Jul 
timeframe. 
The season’s first Arc- 
tic Warbler on the Seward 
Pen., a single inland on 
Nome’s Kougarok Rd. 2 
Jun (Wilderness Birding), 
was nearly record early 
for the Region. Probably 
arriving with a late-sea- 
son storm was a Dark- 
sided Flycatcher at St. 
Paul 27 Jun (St. Paul 
Tour, tSS), where there 
are at least four Jun records and at least one 
from this late in the month. Normally known 
from fall migration in the s. half of the Bering 
Sea, a rare spring migrant Bluethroat ap- 
peared at St. Paul 10 Jun (St. Paul Tour). 
Bluethroats are casual in spring in the Aleu- 
tians and the Pribilofs, and the bulk of the 
Alaska breeding population migrates mostly 
eastward across the Bering Strait. Casual out 
in the Bering Sea away from St. Lawrence I., 
where small numbers are found from a popu- 
lation moving to and from Palearctic breeding 
areas, was a Gray-cheeked Thrush at St. Paul 
13 Jun (St. Paul Tour). Three Eyebrowed 
Thrushes lingered at St. Paul after arriving 
with a late-May storm through 3 Jun, and 
then another odd summer bird moved 
through there 28 Jun-1 Jul (St. Paul Tour). 
Much rarer to the n. at Cambell was an early 
Jun bird followed by another on 5 Jun (Victor 
Emanuel Nature Tours, fide KZ; ph. KZ). 
Macintosh finally confirmed American Robin 
nesting at Kodiak when he photographed an 
ad. feeding 2 flightless young in the down- 
town area 15 Jun (KJ, MAM, ph. RAM). 
Amazingly, American Robins are regular mi- 
grants and wintering birds at Kodiak but had 
never been found nesting, A shy Gray Cat- 
bird that sang from Rubiis thickets at 
Wrangell 23 Jun-2 Jul (GG, HG, ph. CLR, ph. 
SZ) provided only the 4th Alaska record. It 
was not far from the state’s first report, a Jul 
bird from the Stikine River. 
WAGTAILS THROUGH 
HOUSE SPARROW 
Of the White Wagtail reports scattered 
around the w. Seward Pen this season, a lone 
bird at the Shishmaref dump 19 Jun (ph. KS) 
was the best find, although this species has 
been found previously at the n. fringe of the 
Seward Peninsula. Southeast observers noted 
Cedar Waxwings in above-average numbers 
at the usual sites, and two nests were discov- 
ered in Ketchikan 22 Jun (AWP, ph. SCH, ph. 
JHL). Another Tennessee Warbler was singing 
from thickets on the Richardson Hwy. s. of 
Delta Jet. 24 Jun (SD) and 5 Jul (LD) in an 
area where one or more was noted last year. 
The area s. and e. of Delta Jet. and on high- 
ways between there and Tok seem to be the 
Alaska's eighth, this female Lazuli Bunting was nicely documented at Ketchikan 26 June 
2009; all of the state's records come from Alaska's Southeast. Photograph byJ. H. Lewis. 
VOLUME 63 (2009) • NUMBER 4 
641 
