Photo By Kare Lohse
FOR THE BIRDS
“Birding on Attu”
Attu has become a well-known and sought after location for the birders of the world. Many Asian species drop in
(or are blown in) for an occasional visit to the island. These links include a story from one of the more well-known
tour agencies that package trips to Attu, Attour, Inc., that tells of a visit to Attu by a group of birders, the weather
they encountered, and much to their joy the spectrum of fowl they were able to identify during their visit. Another
story, a first-hand account of a birding trip to Attu by Macklin Smith, "Attu 1998: Off the Charts," as appeared in a
recent article of "Winging It," is included for your reading pleasure as well. For those of us that have hiked through
the tundra and explored the many paths and roads occupying the Aleutian Islands, Macklin's experiences will be
very familiar. One thing for sure, Mother Nature has slowly reclaimed the land of Attu that hosted some of the
ugliest fighting during WWII and made it a paradise "for the birds."
