The past 5 days have been non-stop working and birding. My dad and uncle came to visit on the 11th and left on the night of the 14th. We easily saw all the Jaegers, in the first 10 minutes! All the eiders were easy, except the Spectacled. We put in a lot of time and effort looking for Spectacled, and the night before they left, we were out until midnight, walking the tundra, driving every road, but only finding King and Steller's Eiders. Finally, at midnight, we saw an eider with chicks from the road, but she was out of sight fast. We did a little searching and were rewarded with a female Spectacled Eider with chicks! They got all the target birds they were after, and then some!

Yesterday we seawatched, the ice finally moved out and birds were moving! Hundreds of Murres were migrating in huge, close flocks. The same with Kittiwakes and gulls. Before I could even get used to the alcids and such, I noticed a bird leading a Murre flock with a big bright orange and yellow bill. I couldn't figure out what was going on for a second, then I realized I was looking at a Puffin. It had a white belly and a little white in the face, eliminating Tufted. So, Horned Puffin it was. I have seen two before, in California, but was not expecting a Puffin here. However, the range is not too far off of Barrow. 

I seawatched again for 1 1/2 hours today, the 15th. Hundreds of Kittiwakes and Thick-billed Murres were migrating, along with some Common Murres, the 3 loons, Sabine's Gulls, and huge numbers of Glaucous Gulls, almost constantly flowing through.

I'll be adding a section to my Barrow page for seawatching total numbers and species list. Talking to a friend and fellow birder who worked here last year, and is working here this year, they had a few different alcids and other cool birds while seawatching, especially later in the season. I'm looking forward to the coming week!

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