Birders across the Aleutians noticed something unusual this winter — elegant white wading birds showing up in places they've never seen them before.
In December, nine Great Egrets turned up in Adak, five in Nikolski, and, for the first time documented, three in Unalaska, according to Unalaska naturalist Suzi Golodoff.
“It’s funny,” she said. “When you spend time outside and you’re always looking at things and watching the weather and the birds and whatnot, sometimes I see certain spots and I think, ‘Oh, maybe someday something will show up there.’"
But Golodoff never would have guessed there would be three Great Egrets in the lake over on Amaknak Island.
This isn't the first time Great Egrets have shown up in the central and western Aleutians. It is the first time so many have appeared at once. In the past, it’s been just a single bird or two — sometimes alive, but mostly dead.
How did so many Great Egrets get to the Aleutians?
According to Golodoff, some bird biologists suspect October’s Typhoon Halong pushed them across the Pacific Ocean. She said it’s not confirmed, but it’s the leading theory.
“They were all from Asia, as far as they know — all that subspecies of Asian Great Egrets,” Golodoff said, “which is fabulous to see something like this, but also a little tragic, because they’re going to have a tough time.”
These wading birds hunt by standing motionless in shallow water, waiting to spear fish, frogs, snakes, snails, crabs and other prey with their dagger-like bills. But in December, Alaska’s ponds are freezing over and won’t offer them much, Golodoff said.
Finding food isn't the only struggle for the Great Egrets. They'll have to watch out for eagles, a bird that Unalaska has plenty of.
When Unalaska birders got word that Great Egrets had landed at Amaknak Lake on Dec. 9, Golodoff rushed over. By the time she arrived, she said the eagles were already harassing the visiting birds.
“In just that quick span of time, the eagles got them up off the ground and flushed them up,” Golodoff said. “They had them spiraling around and all three egrets kind of got separated.”
She hasn’t seen the Great Egrets since, and it’s hard to say where the birds went.
“What you’d guess is that they just got out of town because all the eagles are so concentrated here,” Golodoff said. “So they might have just gone over to Broad Bay or someplace else with some habitat that might provide them food.”
Great Egrets were also spotted in December in the Pribilofs, Kodiak and Southeast Alaska such as Cordova, Yakutat and Petersburg.
The Great Egrets found in Nikolski were picked off by eagles, Golodoff said. The ones remaining are going to need some serious luck to survive in Alaska.
KUCB’s Kanesia McGlashin-Price contributed reporting to this story.
