Date: 5/12/25 10:08 am From: Ken Stenek via groups.io <kstenek...> Subject: [AKBirding] Shishmaref Migrants
Saturday we took a 20 mile trip to the Serpentine River and were greeted by hundreds of Willow Ptarmigan along the trail foraging in patches where snow had melted. Overall the trail was pretty decent still. We also saw an occasional Greater White-Fronted Goose and even a flock in the river. There were also quite a few Sandhill Cranes. We also got to see a number of Redpolls as well.
Sunday we took our grandson out for a ride on the runway after checking to make sure we weren't expecting any aircraft on FlightRadar. We got to see a pair of early Black-bellied plovers and a solo Dunlin near the tarmac. No standing water along the runway yet for waterfowl, still wintry here.
There was also an early male Northern Wheatear. I usually do not start to see them coming through for a few more days. Overall we have more lingering snow than the past number of years so most of my migrants are understandably late.
