1) Attu 13) Arizona
ABA AREA MAP 11
1) Attu
13) Arizona
2) St. Paul
14) Colorado
3) Dutch Harbour
15)
Oklahoma /
4) Nome / Gambell
Missouri
5)
Kelly
Bar
16) Texas
6)
Point
Barrow
17) Florida
7)
Prudhoe
Bay
18) North
Carolina
8)
Raindeer
Station
19) Pelee
/ Michigan
9)
Grand
Alaska
20) Massachusetts
10) British
Columbia
21) New
Hampshire
11) Nevada
22) Maine
12) California
23) Nova
Scotia
16 ATTU, ALASKA
Attu is the only destination within the ABA area where
a birder can experience such excitement and bird with such great expectations.
Walking at first light from your modest accommodation you may easily flush a new
species for North America, after all, you are basically in Siberia, only
four-hundred miles from the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The Aleutians stretch nine-hundred miles from Dutch
Harbour to Attu Island, a National Wildlife Refuge and in part a National
Monument. The only Aleutian Island open to civilian travel * is Attu and the only practical method to visit this
alluring island is with Attour Incorporated who conduct annual tours. Their two
or three week trips are sheduled to intercept the attenuated migration period
during mid-May through early June; occasionally there are September trips. As
the Loran Station will soon be unmanned future service will most likely prevail
only until the year 1999. Write: Attour Incorporated, 2027 Partridge Lane,
Highland Park, Illinois 60035, tel. (708) 831-0207. fax. (708) 831-0309 who
catapulted the island into ornithological antiquity.
Birders should visit Attu before visiting other
Alaskan sites as the broad spectrum of species which occur on this far-flung
island may make a trip to some other destination within the state unnecessary.
Not only are widespread arctic specialties present but eighty-plus species whose
Asian ranges barely extend eastwards to encompass the outer Aleutians. So
infrequent are some of these wanderers that only fifty-three of these vagrants
are illustrated in the second edition of the National Geographic Society's Field
Guide to the Birds of North America! Arctic
specialties occurring include Arctic & Yellow-billed Loons, Red-faced
Cormorant, Eurasian Wigeon, Tufted Duck, King Eider, Rock Ptarmigan, Pacific
Golden-Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Red-necked Stint, Rock Sandpiper, Ruff, all
three jaegers, Black-headed Gull, Slaty-backed & Glaucous Gulls,
Black-legged & Red-legged (recorded 50% of tours) Kittiwakes, Arctic &
Aleutian Terns, both murres, Marbled, Kittlitz's & Ancient Murrelets, Tufted
& Horned Puffins, Snowy & Short-eared Owls, Yellow Wagtail, Red-throated
Pipit, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting, Brambling, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, and
Hoary Redpoll. Aleutian specialties recorded on a fairly regular basis include
Bean & Emperor Geese, Common Pochard, Smew, White-tailed Eagle, Common
Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Gray-tailed Tattler, Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed
Godwit, Long-toed Stint, Sky Lark, Siberian Rubythroat, Eyebrowed Thrush,
Black-backed & Gray Wagtails, Olive-backed Pipit, Rustic Bunting, and
Hawfinch.
*Visitors can arrange to visit the outer Aleutians with permission and
security clearance. Telephone the commanding officer one month in advance:
Shemya (907) 552-4202; Adak (907) 592-8051; 3 daily flights; 16 miles of paved
roads and many miles of gravel.
ATTU, ALASKA 17
Navy
Town,
Attu
Days
1-21
As
the Reeve Aleutian Airways turbo-prop left Anchorage, forty-plus birders were
rolling with laughter. The stewardess doubled as a stand-up comic and she
continually kept us snickering on the gruelling seven-hour flight along the
Aleutian chain. Outside the plane's window, low fog partially obscured Attu's
captivating, snow-spattered peaks and savage wind-swept coastline. The aircraft
circled several times waiting for an opening in the clouds before beginning the
steep and exciting descent onto the short runway. Stepping from the aircraft we
were greeted by spectacular panoramas of treeless tundra meadows, profiles of
majestic mountain ranges, and stark, steep-walled canyons filled with
tussock-grass and rank growths of knee-deep vegetation. The silent remoteness of
the land presented a peaceful, contemplative atmosphere.
As
the coast guard personal began the difficult task of unloading and refueling the
plane, we stood idol on the runway listening to the continuous outpouring of
trills and babbles of Sky Larks. We had limited contact with the Loran Station
crew after this initial meeting except for one afternoon when we visited the
buildings to buy "Attu" T-shirts and other island paraphenalia.
Waiting
patiently, a flock of Eurasian Wigeon flew overhead escorted by a lone female
Smew, while alongside the runway Temminck's & Long-toed Stints fed among the
tundra pools. We were immediately
ACCOMMODATION 175
Big Bend
Chisos
Mountain Lodge, Basin Station, Big Bend National Park, Big Bend, TX 79834, tel.
(915) 477-2291, fax. (915) 477-2352.
Brookshire
Days
Inn, I-10 at US 359, tel. 1-800-329-7466, local (409) 934-3122), $42 US double.
Houston
Motel
6, (near Hobby Airport), I-45 at 8800 Airport Blvd., Houston 77061, tel.
1-800-4-MOTEL-6, local (713) 941-0990, $45 US double.
Motel
6, (just north of Intercontinental Airport), I-45 at Holtzwarth / Exit 68, 19606
Cypresswood Ct., Spring, TX 77388, tel. 1-800-4-MOTEL 6, local (281) 350-6400,
$48.50 US double (direct route [I-45] for Jones State Park).
Kingsville
Motel
6, US 77 at East King Avenue, 101 North US 77, Kingsville TX 78363, tel.
1-800-4-MOTEL-6, local (512) 592-5106, $66 US double.
McAllen
Microtel
Motel, 801 East Expressway 83, McAllen, TX 78501, tel. 1-800-621-5890, fax.
(210) 630-0666, $45 US double.
Rockport
Days
Inn, US 35 downtown Rockport, tel. 1-800-329-7466, $52 US double.
Silsbee
Pinewood
Inn, US 96 in downtown Silsbee, tel: (409) 385-5593, $55 US double (not
recommended except as a standby).
Winnie
Best Western Gulf Coast, Junction of I-10 and US 124, tel. 1-800-433-7234, $45.50 US double. Two other motels in Winnie.
Chisos Mountain Lodge, Big Bend National Park, Texas