Hints on Birding from an Alaska Cruise Ship

My posts are a good starting point for birders taking an Alaska cruise. I began my planning by using some excellent resources (and I would recommend them all):

• An excellent trip report by Jim Holmes. There are other trip reports about birding Alaska via a cruise ship. Jim Holmes discusses birding from the ship with a scope, delineating specific seabirds he was able to see. Very informative and well-worth reading.
• Birder’s Guide to Alaska by George C. West. In addition to reading about our specific ports, there was also excellent information about islands we would be passing as well as “tips” about birding in the Gulf of Alaska. Peruse the book carefully and thoroughly. You might even find treasures I missed.
• Birdfinder: A Birder’s Guide to Planning North American Trips by Jerry A. Cooper. Their chapter on birding Alaska is for June (exactly when we were there). It offers information regarding what birds you can find, specific directions, and a feel for a birding trip with fits and starts.
• Birder’s Guide to Washington by Hal Opperman (for our day in Victoria, BC). We simply photocopied the section on Victoria. FYI, since our focus here was the Sky Lark I emailed anyone and everyone I could find with links to birding in Victoria until I got a reply letting us know they were best seen at the fields around the airport.
• Guide to the Birds of Alaska by Robert H. Armstrong (as an adjunct to our primary use of Sibley’s field guide). I liked Armstrong’s book for its written information more than the limited photos of the different birds. It gave me seasonal and regional likelihoods for seeing specific birds, as well as excellent written descriptions to help with identification.
• Alaska Atlas and Gazetteer by DeLorme We used this in conjunction with the navigational channel’s latitude and longitude readings on our television (also available in the Crow’s Nest Lounge and the Explorer’s Cafe). Specifically, we were interested in the times we were going to pass certain breeding areas, such as the Barren Islands on the way to Kodiak, or when we were going to enter certain bodies of water.
I’m assuming the posts tell about birding in specific ports or on specific excursions. In this post I’m going to expound specifically on birding from the actual cruise ship, something Holmes does well.

We were on Holland America’s ms Amsterdam, a reasonably-sized ship holding 1380 passengers. The ship had 11 decks (including the lowest deck with no cabins and the “partial” top deck called the Sports Deck).

My first suggestion is to know thy ship! We explored the ship and, even then, found new and wonderful places to set up our scope later in the cruise.

Specific to the ms Amsterdam, you can find a deck plan here and here’s what we learned:
Main Deck: If you go to the stern of the ship there’s an area close to the water. The view off the back requires a high setting on the tripod because of the solid wall under the railing. There’s also some vibration from the engine below, making scoping difficult at times. However, on a cold day there’s some heat coming up from the opening to the engine room making cold days a bit less cold.



Lower Promenade Deck: The walkway goes completely around the ship here. However, the area at the bow is blocked (I assume against the winds). There are decent views off the sides and stern of the ship. Again, the tripod needs to be set a bit higher to clear the railing.



We didn’t explore the areas between the Promenade and the Verandah decks, so I’ll jump to:
Navigation Deck: We didn’t discover this jewel until quite late in the cruise. If you walk through the hallways to the stern of the ship, you can go out onto an open area with open railing. Here you can comfortably sit in the deck chairs and bird comfortably. We even took some blankets from the Lido Deck on a chilly evening.



Lido Deck: We settled on this as our favorite place to set up the scope and bird. We were able to see off the sides of the ship as well as to its back. We were able to see ahead of the ship a bit, spotting birds as we approached them so we could get a good bead on them as we passed.



Sports: We walked up to the Sports Deck from the port (left) side of the ship when it was getting nasty and windy out. We tucked ourselves in behind the tennis court enclosure and set the scope to view over the railing. It was still chilly, the the enclosure broke the wind beautifully while we were still able to get clear views to the front and side.



We never went up to the Sky Deck.

As for the experience of Pelagic birding (our first), especially without a guide, it was a learning curve. Here’s what we learned.

You’re not going to see most of the birds with your naked eye. Our joking rule was, “If you can see it with your naked eye, it’s an Albatross.” So use your binoculars to scan the water!

We were lucky there were two of us. One of us could stay on the bird while the other tried to get on it with the scope. I’d say we had about a sixty to seventy percent rate for success on this. Eventually we found it was just easier to take turns scanning the water with the scope.

It takes time, but you’ll develop a skill for positioning the scope so birds will come into view as you switch to the next person (taking into account the mutual movement of the birds and the ship).
Study your field guide before you travel (good advice for any birding trip). Try and learn the subtle differences between Sooty and Short-tailed Shearwater, and between the Black-footed, Laysan, and Short-tailed Albatross.

Learn size and movement differential. We learned Murrelets are the tiny little things we would see sitting on the water, taking off as the ship passed. Storm-Petrels are very similar to Swallows over the water. Shearwaters were exactly that, they would fly with wings extended right over the surface of the water.

Most importantly, STAY ON THE BIRD! When you get a bird in your scope or binoculars, keep looking at it. Save the guide for when you’ve lost the bird. Check out the size, the shape, the behavior, and any markings you can distinguish. How long is the bill (if you can see it)? Can you see the legs? What color are they? Is the bird light or dark? How does it compare to other, similar birds? What are the proportions? What shape is the head? The tail? The wings? All this will help determine the family and, hopefully, the species.

Equipment (in case you’re a bit earlier in your birding career or feel you need to re-equip):

I traveled with my Pentax 8x32 binoculars. Avie had his Swarovski EL 8x32. The scope was a Swarovski HD 80mm scope with the zoom eyepiece.

Avie invested in a good Manfrotto 128RC fluid head for the trip and this was invaluable when we had a bird in the scope as a moving target, enabling us to stay with it for as long as it was within viewing range.

We retrofitted it to his old Tiltall Leitz tripod. A decent Manfrotto tripod showed up at Costco before the trip, but we stuck with what we knew (and had).

If you’re going on an Alaska cruise and have questions I haven’t answered, please email me here: april-g at satx dot rr dot com.

Wren Wars: And the Winner Is......

We got home from our Alaska trip last night (trip posts to follow). Even before getting home, I was curious what the outcome of the Wren Wars would be. My answer came this morning.

I awoke to a Carolina Wren singing outside our window. My visual confirmation of what that indicated happened a few minutes ago, when I saw a Carolina Wren tail sticking out of the nesting hat/box. The male sat nearby on the porch railing, singing and twitching.

It seemed to me the female was still sitting on eggs, since she entered the box and was still sitting in there. I guess, in the end, the Carolina Wren retained its nest in spite of the Bewick's aggressions.

Several days later I took these photos of one of the parents coming to the nest with food.

We'll continue to enjoy the nesting activity outside our bedroom window until the young fledge. Then we'll clean out the hat and see if we're lucky enough to get a second nesting this season.

Wren Wars

Outside our bedroom window is a hanging resin hat. It's supposed to be decorative. However, we usually have pairs of wrens, either Carolina or Bewick's, take up residence in it a couple of times a year. We enjoy watching the nest building process, followed by incubation, and chick rearing. The hat is ultimately vacated by successful fledging. Then we clean it out and, if it's early enough in the season, it starts all over again.

This year we were delighted to see a pair of Carolina Wrens furiously bringing nesting material to the hat. I became confused when I heard a Bewick's Wren calling outside the nest when it seems as though it was complete. Sure enough, a pair of Bewick's Wrens were checking out the nest box, with the nest inside.

This morning, I had a male Bewick's Wren singing his heart out on the hat. I had to wonder if a Wren would usurp a nest it had not built.

About 15 minutes later, a Carolina Wren was at the hat, either returning to its proprietary nest, or checking out the hat for a prospective site. I heard another Wren (the Bewick's) giving its alarm call. Then, it flew over and began flying into the Carolina Wren, physically and audibly assaulting it several times in sequence.

Both Wrens flew off. It seemed things were at a standoff and I wonder if the hat will be occupied at all this season.

Meanwhile, I hear the Carolina Wren singing outside the window, a bit tentatively (not quite as loud as usual).

We'll be leaving for two weeks in Alaska and Seattle on Friday (two days from now), so I might not know how this drama plays out until my return. At that point, either the hat will have tenants or it will be an "empty nest", in which case we'll clean it out and start over, either this year or next.

Well, Maybe a Couple of Outings Before Ohio.....

Today is my birthday. Most people go out for brunch. Avi and I went out to see a bird we've neglected for the almost nine years we've been living in South Central Texas: the Black-capped Vireo.

A Black-capped Vireo (NOT the one we saw)

We took an incredibly beautiful drive out to Kerr Wildlife Management Area near Hunt, TX. The route took us along FM1340 which winds through Hill Country, weaving back and forth along the Guadalupe River.

The trip didn't disappoint. In addition to the breath-taking scenery on the drive, including Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, and other native Texas wildflowers in full bloom (see photos below), we heard several Black-capped Vireos singing their nonstop chatter, and caught a great view of one in an opening. Avi also got good looks at three Golden-cheeked Warblers.

Happy birthday to me!

What's the Point Washington State?

A couple of weeks ago I traveled to Seattle to attend the national conference for Ceramic Artists. Of course, it was also the perfect opportunity to visit my son (in grad school at UW), get some excellent grub, and do a bit of Puget Sound birding.

Since I was staying downtown, Dan (my son) and I decided to take the ferry from there over to Bainbridge Island and then drive up to Point No Point on the Kitsap Peninsula, returning on the Edmonds Ferry via Kingston.

A Birder's Guide to Washington describes this spot thus: "Strong currents churn up plankton and small invertebrates when tides are running. Large concentrations of Pacific Sand Lance and Pacific Herring gather in the tidal rips at these rich feeding areas, in turn attracting high numbers of marine birds."

On the way up, Dan saw a sign pointing us to Chief Sealth's (Seattle is named for him) grave and wanted to take the detour to see it. Though we never got to the cemetery, we DID come across a Suquamish tribe Pow-Wow at Agate Pass.

Knowing sea birds would wait, we stopped in, listening to drumming and seeing young tribe members dressed up in traditional outfits for the celebration. Dan bought some smoked salmon from a tribe member who catches and smokes the fish himself. I invested in a carved bone necklace and a pair of silver earrings. We then had some lunch at the Agate Pass Cafe (highly recommended) and perused a small tribal craft shop, before moving on.

Point No Point was all it promised to be. We parked in one of the two public lots. We were fortunate, since the weather was cold, windy, and drizzly, so not many people were there. We walked past the small lighthouse, onto the beach which curved around the point.

Immediately, we saw why the book recommended this spot. There were Loons, Grebes, Ducks, Gulls, and three Harbor Seals who were curious about what we were looking at.

If you follow this blog, you know I don't have an expensive camera. I'm more interested in observing birds first and taking photographs afterward. Happily, Dan is the opposite, so we were able to get some middling photos of several of the birds we saw. Please take into account, the photos were taken with a Panasonic Lumix camera at anywhere between 20 - 40x.

Brant

Pacific Loon

Common Goldeneye getting ready to dive

Red-breasted Merganser

We loved how the Merganser would look underwater to see what was there before diving.

Surf Scoter

All in all, combining the drive from Winslow to Kingston, with the productive stop at Point No Point, we saw a total of 24 species, with 4 lifers. This, in spite of my son asking "What's the Point??" (see photo below):

"What's the Point"

The list (lifers in bold type):

Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Red-necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Brant
Mallard
Eurasian Wigeon
Green-winged Teal
Surf Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Red-breasted Merganser
Lesser Yellowlegs
Bonaparte's Gull
Pigeon Guillemot
Rock Pigeon
Northwestern Crow
Tree Swallow
American Robin
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird

Addendum: Earlier in the week, we took a short walk through the southern portion of Discovery Park. Being a day of "acceptable" Seattle weather (not raining), it was busy, which probably affected our bird numbers. However, I add the below list for a sense of completion (out of taxonomic field guide order):

Brown Creeper
Hooded Merganser
Dark-eyed Junco
American Robin
Bushtit
Varied Thrush

Next birding foray: Magee Marsh, Ohio!!!
Hooded Merganser

The Importance of Taking Note

A couple of trips to Choke Canyon over the past few weeks have been incredible -- not just for the birds, but for the myriad of other wildlife we've seen on or along the road. I've been negligent in reporting, so I'm going to take a brief moment to share some highlights.

A few weeks ago, Avi and I mistook a mostly drab bird with blue highlights for an immature Eastern Bluebird, since the Choke Canyon Bird List has them as the only likely one in the park. We were a little insecure, not totally convinced the call was correct.

Today I went out with a woman from Birdingpal who wanted to go out birding during her visit to San Antonio. The bird was still there. We scoped it and moved on. Well, when I got home I found out many Western species are having an irruptive year, moving east in Texas. So -- what we really saw was a Mountain Bluebird.


The lesson here? Never take anything for granted.

So, now for some of the other highlights of the trip and, luckily, this time I remembered my camera.

The Green Jay is a fixture in the park. It's always a pleasure to see them. It's even more of a pleasure to get good photos. Happily, today the "Birding Sanctuary" by the RV Campground at the Calliham Unit was very birdy, so we were able to get great shots.

Green Jay

There were also several Audubon's Orioles in the Park. A few years ago we were questioned when we reported them in February. Now they seem to be regulars.

Audubon's Oriole

It's even better when you can get two fabulous birds in a single frame:

Green Jay and Audubon's Oriole

A Long-billed Thrasher was snacking on one of the grapefruits that had fallen onto the ground (as was a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, though I didn't get her photo).

Long-billed Thrasher

Just a photo of one of our non-bird critters as well:

Armadillo

All in all it was a great day birding. We might not have gotten a large number of species (gulls and ducks were conspicuously absent); but we certainly made up for it in quality.

The list:

North to Alaska

Avi and I sat down to decide what we'd like to do for our birding trip this summer. We usually do a two-week stint somewhere wonderful and, usually, neotropical. So I decided to look into something completely different and began researching good options for a first time visit to our largest state, Alaska.

What I found out was a cruise would give us the greatest bang for the buck in terms of time and distance. So, I booked a 14-day cruise with Holland America.

We'll be sailing in and out of Seattle, giving us the added attraction of possibly seeing our son, who lives there, on either end of the trip.

The itinerary looks interesting, with stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, Icy Strait Point, Anchorage, Homer, Kodiak, Sitka, and Victoria. We also cruise by or through Vancouver, Tracy Arm, and the Hubbard Glacier.

Many people are disappointed it's not a total "inside passage cruise". We couldn't be happier. Sailing on the Pacific side of Vancouver and across the Gulf of Alaska will, hopefully, give us good opportunities for pelagics. We'll also be taking several whale watch excursions (NOT through the cruise line, but on smaller boats) which will pass rookeries as well as whale feeding grounds.

Right now we're trying to decide whether our 60mm 25x Kowa will suffice, or if we should bite the bullet and purchase a 65mm 25-50x Swarovski. Anyone have strong opinions on this.

For now, here's a map of the 14 day itinerary:

14 Days Cruising Alaska