copyright 2003 Shearwater Journeys

Hello, Seabirders,

The Bering Sea cruise sponsored by the American Birding Association (ABA) on the Clipper Odyssey was quite spectacular for seabirding. Steve Howell and I were the co-leaders on this trip. We flew by charter aircraft from Anchorage, Alaska to Petropavlosk on Russia's Kamchatka's Peninsula, and cruised the Aleutian Island chain back to the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska.

The highlight of the trip was finding 16 of the world's 23 alcid species, including: SPECTACLED GUILLEMOT and LONG-BILLED MURRELET in Russian waters; KITTLITZ'S MURRELET'S (up to 14 in one day), COMMON MURRE (35,000+ in one day), THICK-BILLED MURRE (500+ in one day), PIGEON GUILLEMOT (30 in one day), ANCIENT MURRELET (200 in one day), CASSIN'S AUKLET (250 in one day), PARAKEET AUKLET (100+ in one day), LEAST AUKLET (100,000+ in one day), WHISKERED AUKLET (50,000+ in one day), CRESTED AUKLET (100,000+ in one day), RHINOCEROS AUKLET (3 in one day), HORNED PUFFIN (2000+ in one day), and TUFTED PUFFIN (2000+ in one day) in US waters. Whew! We were often surrounded by whirls and whirls of alcids!

Tubenose highlights included: SHORT-TAILED (STELLER'S) ALBATROSS (2, both in US waters), LAYSAN and BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES; NORTHERN FULMAR; MOTTLED PETREL (17 in Russian waters, 3 in US waters); a few SOOTY SHEARWATERS, thousands of SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATERS; and FORK-TAILED and LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS.

Other "goodies" included: RED-FACED and PELAGIC CORMORANTS; BLACK-HEADED (Russia), MEW, SLATY-BACKED, GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS, BLACK-LEGGED and RED-LEGGED KITTIWAKES; and ALEUTIAN TERN.

Land birds in Russia included: SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT (2 males in full song!), MIDDENDORFF'S GRASSHOPPER WARBLER, COMMON and ORIENTAL CUCKOO, SKYLARK, WILLOW TIT, ARCTIC WARBLER, OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT, GRAY and BLACK-BACKED WAGTAILS.

Landing on ATTU, we found a SIBERIAN FLYCATCHER, and Steve found yet another Siberian Flycatcher on Kiska. We saw many of the Aleutian Island endemic subspecies, i.e., ROCK PTARMIGAN.

Not to be outdone by the birds, we also had splendid views of 15 species of mammals. The highlights included: SPERM WHALE (1-excellent views by all!), FIN, SEI, and MINKE WHALES, DALL'S PORPOISE, almost daily, KILLER WHALES; STELLER'S SEA LION, NORTHERN FUR SEAL, and SEA OTTER. Over 30 BROWN BEARS were crunching clams and grazing at the water's edge, quietly observed by us in our Zodiacs!

All in all, a splendid trip. I nearly forgot one of the most important aspects of the trip‹incredibly beautiful weather for almost the entire trip!! No rain, little fog, calm seas‹made seeing all those snow-capped volcanos marvelous!

Happy seabirding,
Debra Shearwater

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