Rare birds becoming common sight — Siberian Accentor, bramblings visit Kenai Peninsula

By Joseph Robertia

Photos courtesy of Carol Griswold. A Siberian Accentor — a small bird with a brown-streaked back and yellowish eyebrows and underparts — showed up in Seward late last month.

Wikipedia

Redoubt Reporter

While lightning rarely strikes the same spot twice, an equally unusual occurrence has been happening on the Kenai Peninsula this winter as not just one, but two more rare bird sightings have taken place in a winter already marked by a number of odd avian identifications.

A Siberian Accentor — a small bird with a brown-streaked back and yellowish eyebrows and underparts — showed up in Seward late last month, while several small groups of bramblings — long-winged, long-tailed birds with orange to their breasts and shoulders — have been seen in not just Seward, but several other locations, since their November arrival.

“The Siberian Accentor is really exciting. The last observation of one was in Hope back about 20 years ago, so this is a big deal,” said Ken Tarbox, of the Keen Eye Birders, a retired Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist, and one of the organizers of the Kenai Peninsula Wildlife Viewing Trail Guide.

Seward birders Kit and Janet Durnil first spotted the Siberian Accentor on Jan. 22. They knew they had never seen a bird with a mask like the accentor, but they weren’t entirely sure what they were seeing. They called Carol Griswold, an avid Seward birder who leads bird-watching trips to see unusual species, such as this.

Griswold said that the bird has been a little tricky to spot. It’s been moving a bit and also traveling with other birds, including varied thrush and fox, golden-crowned, white-crowned and song sparrows.

Continued:  http://redoubtreporter.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/rare-birds-becoming-common-sight-siberian-accentor-bramblings-visit-kenai-peninsula/

What a lark — Birders flock to peninsula to see rare Eurasian visitor

By Joseph Robertia

It was a lark, in both name and the fact that it showed up on the Kenai Peninsula, or mainland Alaska at all. At least that’s what avid birders said, who flocked to Deep Creek to see the rare avian visitor late last month.

“People were driving 500 to 600 miles and pulling all-nighters to get here and see this bird, that’s how special it was,” said Toby Burke, a wildlife technician with the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

The bird is a small, cryptically colored ground-dweller formerly known as a Eurasian sky lark, but now, since the forming of the European Union, just known as a sky lark. They can be found from Europe to Asia in their home range. Sightings in Alaska are rare.

Continued:  http://redoubtreporter.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/what-a-lark-birders-flock-to-peninsula-to-see-rare-eurasian-visitor/