Anarchy on the road!

Adak is an amazing place! The birds and scenery are tough to beat. The rules of the road do not apply! I think in times past they did, but now-a-days you don't have to stop at the stop signs, nobody cares if you don't wear your seat belt, you can drive the wrong way on a one way street and who needs to carry their drivers license around? Heck some cars don't even have license plates!

Our fellow bird watcher's vehicle...no license plate!

Buckle up for safety!

We have a very special vehicle. It is doing great getting us where we want to go, but nothing seems to work right on it. No where on the dash is anything to indicate what gear you are in, it only has one working headlight, the odometer seems to think we are going between 90-140 mph...even when sitting still! It has been an adventure! We have been having a blast! 

Going the wrong way...

We were flying down the road!!

We had a very windy day, only saw a few new birds, sandhill crane and ancient murrelet, but it was still so much fun driving around and exploring. We went on a great hike to a lake. It was a bit muddy and slippery, but we all make it just fine. The creek draining the lake was so beautiful and the light here is amazing! Victoria and I even went exploring in an old building that must have been used as some sort of rec center at one time. 

Abandoned building full of old army stretchers.

This place is surreal.

Victoria and Kitty heading up to the lake!

Kitty walking a trail near the White Alice site.

Another great day in Adak!

Adak this morning...so beautiful! 

We started off on our own this morning and quickly decided that we MAYBE needed some help from our new friends Frank and Barb. We ended up following them around again for most of the day. We did a loop around Clam Lagoon and found the usual suspects, green-winged teal, northern pintail, mallard, glaucous-winged gull...but Victoria also found a dunlin! We weren't very excited about it, but apparently dunlin are hard to come by around here! Frank and Barb were pretty happy about it!

I only got one new bird today at the Airport Ponds and that was the tufted duck! I got some very blurry photos of it through the scope, but you can tell that they are tufted ducks! We headed to Shotgun Pond and what was there waiting for us? A beautiful male smew and two of his lady friends! We were beside ourselves with happiness! 

Blurry photo of a tufted duck taken through the scope. See the tuft on his head?

Checked out the ocean and found some red-necked grebes. After a long day we headed back to the homestead. We needed to get gas before 5 since there is only one station and it is closed on the weekend. Gas was $6.81 a gallon! It was quite an adventure getting gas too! 

OMG! Prices are high in Adak!

We came home and had a dinner of salad and pizza. Kitty and Victoria went for a walk around the neighborhood and then we met up at the store which is open from 6-8 pm. The prices are crazy high and the selection is meager. Apparently they are getting ready to move to a smaller location, so maybe a lot of their stuff was already moved to the new space. 

Walking out a little spit on Clam Lagoon.

After the store, Victoria went to bed and Kitty and I decided to go for a bit of a drive and see if we could find any other birds. We actually did too! We saw many rock ptarmigan (that I am in love with, so you will see some more photos of them!) and we spooked up a rough-legged hawk from the side of the road! Major exciting. Not photo of the hawk, but it was sooo cool to see a raptor OTHER than a bald eagle!

Day 2 is gone! We have 7 amazing days here, and we have seen so many cool things! Oh, forgot about the mammals we have seen. At this point they are all marine mammals. Harbor seal, northern sea otter and Steller's sea lion. 

Adak continues to amaze!

Adak, Alaska...Middle of Nowhere

We made it to ADAK!!

I forgot a download cord, so I can't download the photos from my point and shoot camera, but this place is amazing! No trees, tons of birds! We have only been here for one afternoon and I already have 3.5 new species! Yes, I get a half a point for the common green-winged teal...

The other 3 new birds are rock ptarmigan, hawfinch (OMG!) and SMEW (OMFG!!)

There is one other couple here specifically to bird. They are from Pennsylvania and have been to Adak numerous times. They were very gracious to show us around some of the better birding spots and give us some pointers. Not to shabby for a first day of birding.

Here are some photos of the birds. More tomorrow when I catch up on my sleep!

Coolest bird so far! Hawfinch! Also, the first bird we saw and the photo does not even come close to capturing the beauty of this not so little bird!

Hawfinch

Hawfinch, rare visitor from Europe!

Best photo I have of a smew...so far!

Rock ptarmigan. They are everywhere, so I am sure that there will be more photos to come!