The forest service was running a training for local guides to learn some birds, and I was able to participate on some of the activities (some were open to the public generally, but the boat trip was available because not too many guides ended up showing up).

This morning was an early bird walk around Starrigavan. It was fairly quiet overall, but I was pretty sure I heard a Swainson’s Thrush (briefly), my first of the year. We also heard the most extensive and loud heron calling that I’ve ever heard. We weren’t able to get where we could see what was going on before it quit (it probably lasted close to a minute) – but it seemed like it might have been a response to an eagle, perhaps one near a nest?

This afternoon Rowan and I joined the boat trip to St. Lazaria. It was reasonably calm on the water, birds were patchy, but abundant where we saw them. Between Vitskari and Low Island there were a bunch of gulls, Rhinoceros Auklets, and some Pacific Loons, with probably some other things mixed in. They seemed to be concentrated in one area (both going out and coming back in), so I’m guessing there was a bunch of feed there.

In the vicinity of Vitskari we saw a couple of Red-necked Phalaropes.

Between Low Island and St. Lazaria there were quite a few Ancient Murrelets (which we mostly watched on the way back in). The cliffs at St. Lazaria were pretty quiet, but many murres (both species) were rafted up on the south side of the island. There were also 50+ Tufted Puffins. Also at Lazaria was at least one Peregrine Falcon.

Weather-wise, it was pretty nice. There was some haze and clouds over the mountains looking towards Baranof (and especially towards the southern parts), but on the water it was clear and not really windy.

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North side of the west end of St. Lazaria.

Sunlight on St. Lazaria Island on an early June evening.

I was reminded of a trip out to St. Lazaria earlier this month when I ran into someone I know who is spending the summer out there working for the Fish and Wildlife Service monitoring seabird populations. St. Lazaria is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and is home to hundreds of thousands of breeding birds, mostly storm-petrels and alcids.

I was interested to find out that most of the alcids have only just begun nesting, though the Fork-tailed Storm-petrels are much further along, with some chicks already present in the burrow nests. The Glaucous-winged Gulls also had chicks, but it sounds like many of them may have perished in an unusually strong storm for this time of year. The waves were crashing up on the outer cliffs, and even wrapping around the west end of the island and battering the usually well protected cove, totaling the skiff used by the FWS scientists and moving the anchor around to the east side of the island in the process. Carrie said she thought the waves were probably 18 feet high, splashing well up the cliff. The sound of the waves was impressive, creating a feeling like the cabin was shaking, despite not being directly exposed to the waves. Hearing about this storm reminded me of my desire to get out to a remote stretch of the outer coast before a large storm rolls in and watch the waves pound the shoreline (from a safe distance, of course).

Waves would have been crashing well up the cliffs shown here during the storm.