Seward,
Alaska Sporadic Bird Report
Sunrise
9:48 am, sunset 3:51 pm, length of day 6 hours, 3 minutes; tomorrow will be 2
minutes and 6 seconds shorter.
Jupiter
leads the full moon across the sky tonight, but in the early morning hours a
drama will occur: the second and last total lunar eclipse of 2011! In the US,
only Alaska and Hawaii will be able to see the whole lunar eclipse from start
to finish. In Seward, the partial eclipse begins at 3:45 am, the total eclipse
begins at 5:05 am, the greatest eclipse will be at 5:31 am ending at 5:58 am, and
the partial eclipse ends at 7:18 am. For times in other locations, go to the Lunar Eclipse
Calculator at <http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/LunarEclipse.php>
Weather:
O joy, another blizzard warning in effect for Saturday evening along Turnagain
Arm. Driving the Seward highway will be hazardous. Today was lovely: sunny with
a gentle 10 mph north wind and temps just above freezing. The recent snowfall
transformed Seward into a bright winter wonderland, leaving just a little bare
ground under the spruce trees for the birds to continue to forage for frozen
insects and invertebrates under the brown leaves and needles.
A
much more welcome blizzard surrounded me yesterday at the salt marsh. Mist
rising from the open river and patches of fog shrouded everything in mystery. Off
in the distance, I spied a large flock of birds flushing from one patch of
beach rye grass to another. The little birds landed at the top of the grass and
rode it down to the snow where the seeds could be more easily extracted. It
looked like fun! To my amazement, they flew ever closer and closer, feeding
frantically, then exploded into the air, back down, and up. Suddenly, I was in
their midst! Over 100 SNOW BUNTINGS flashed over and around me. I could hear
their soft chirps and rush of their wings. I might have caught one if I held
out my hand! Off they flew and then back again! This happened three times! What
a thrill!
I
snapped photos, trying to capture their beautiful black and white patterns
embroidered with soft brown hues. One in particular seemed much, much lighter
than the others. When I sent photos to Buzz Scher, he agreed that it was a
McKAY'S BUNTING. His observations noted the lack of black on the back, no black
on the bend of the upper wing, very little or restricted black at the tips of the
central tail feathers, pale buffy face, and notably less black in the outer
primaries. Another LIFE BIRD for me! Thank you, Buzz!
The
birds seemed extremely nervous and soon I saw the reason: an adult
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK materialized out of nowhere and plunged into the flock. It
missed and continued flying over to a perch on a stump, reconsidering options
for dinner. Many thanks to Paul Fritz for helping me decipher the ID of this
bird. I really appreciate the support of other birders to help me learn.
Today,
I refound the large flock at a distance. Once again, they approached and fed
nearby, but did not surround around me as before. As they flew high into the
sky and plummeted back to earth, they resembled snowflakes blown by the wind, a
mini-blizzard of feathers from the far north. On the way back, the Sharpie
reappeared and landed in the spruce grove, waiting its chance for a good meal
to last it through the long cold night.
Other
birds of interest:
Robin
C also found the buntings today, including one McKay's, and a juvenile SHRIKE.
No
Redwing at Lowell Point Beach. We have checked every day since it was last seen
on November 26 without success. Reports of IT turned into song sparrows, varied
thrushes, and even grosbeaks, but we'll keep looking.
Birds
around town include a HAIRY WOODPECKER, female, (banging on my house), 22
GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCHES, 10 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, a few GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS,
12 ROBINS, 2 VARIED THRUSHES, and the usual STELLER'S JAYS, CHESTNUT-BACKED and
BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, GROSBEAKS, NUTHATCHES, DARK-EYED JUNCOS,
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS et al.
Ava
has a cloud of grosbeaks, a growing flock of PINE SISKINS, many TREE SPARROWS,
and the usual wonderful yard birds.
A
tip from Duane and Sanna: to reduce the number of crows and pigeons, do not
feed black oil sunflower seed. Instead use millet and Niger seed. This has
worked well for them.
Check
out this amazing footage of an Eurasian Eagle Owl flying to the camera holder for a food reward at
< http://www.petapixel.com/2011/08/09/eagle-owl-attacking-camera-at-1000fps/.
Here's a link from a little different angle and shows more of the ending:<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji_x8RU4zIo>
Happy
Birding!
Carol
Griswold
Seward
Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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