Another Sunday Special - Part I

 It is doubtful that the

PRIBILOF ISLANDS,

just north of the Aleutians in the Bering Sea, spring to mind when arranging the family holiday but, without that sort of baggage and the magnetic draw of travelling the full length of the Alaska Highway for a 4th time that was only part of it! Additionally, there was the chance to visit the 3 remaining US States (Hawaii, Utah and Idaho) to complete the full 50 while also, should luck have it, record 2 of the 3 outstanding Gull species still not seen across the World! Hawii was an absolute joy having already added

FAIRY TERN
and

HAWAIIAN DUCK
to the World List just before encountering this 'crew' of

US NAVAL RATINGS
who, as one, thought they had found their long-lost

SEA DAD

shipping me off to Hooters for a slap up meal!
The very mention of a

LAYSAN ALBATROSS
at an almost inaccessible location on the coast found them unnimous in changing their plans of cliff-diving to please their Dear Ol' Dad with another 'Lifer'!
For the sake of brevity we can tell that the following days there were of the best, especially Pearl Harbour, but we leap 'fast forewar' to

BAJA MEXICO
where it took 2 days to find just a single

YELLOW-FOOTED GULL
(just 2 to go).

The least said about Idaho and Utah maybe the better, with no disrespect, and we could write a book on its own discussing the adventures and sights along the Al-Can. 750 miles from Anchorage lie the tiny islands of St George and St Paul but the delight en-route was aplenty having picked up a few more passengers in Nome when

only a few minutes airbourn the view below was clicked from the port window

BELUGA WHALES
(thousands of them and a first for me)

On landing and so intrigued, especially by the numerous

GREY-CROWNED ROSY-FINCH
it wasn't noticed that

all the other passengers had dispursed

and there was no-one to meet me, but no worries as the Giant of a Man that was my guide

Forrest Rowland introduced me to Logistics Manageress Michelle Carlton

with a warm welcome

and introduction to my home for the next 5 days and with no considerations of lack of daylight

straight into the field with

CAPITATE VELERIAN
and

ARCTIC FOX
aplenty!

The HOTEL from distance,

while the tripod was erected in an effort to salvage this stricken

OIL TANKER
(nice to be back in familiar territory)

HARLEQUIN DUCKS
aplenty along with a look back at the town of

SAINT PAUL'S
and

as the sign suggested

the most numerous

MAMMAL
in all shapes and sizes

NORTHERN FUR SEAL

Among the Seabirds (some 'ringed')

PELAGIC CORMORANT

PARAKEET AUKLET
(with more to come) with

WHIRLEY LOUSEWORT

and what the Yanks quite rightly call this Wader
RED PHALOROPE

and we refer to as
GREY PHALAROPE
as only usually a winter visitor to our shore at which time they are Grey.
To bring this one to a close, with hopes of more to come, the

LAPLAND BUNTING
(male)

(female)
is also an annual visitor, in small numbers, to our shores.