Seward,
Alaska Sporadic Bird Report
Sunrise
9:17 am, sunset 5:05 pm, length of day 7 hours, 47 minutes; tomorrow will be 4
minutes and 56 seconds longer. Waxing half moon rides with Jupiter across the
cloudy sky.
Weather:
Ahhhh. Winter relaxed its frigid grip overnight and temperatures rose steadily
throughout the day into the 20sº.
Intermittent light snowfall didn't add much more that a thin white
topcoat. And best of all, the wind took a nap. What a difference!
I
dashed out of the house just before noon today and drove my snow-crystal-
studded car to the Lowell Creek waterfall. Climbing up on the snow bank, I
heard the loud exhale first and then saw a long, beautiful dark back and craggy
dorsal fin arc out of the water just off shore, then gracefully submerge. A
humpback whale! Again and again, the paired nostrils, the powerful blow, long
back, small triangular dorsal, and smooth submerge.
Nervous
rows of COMMON MURRES paddled out of its way, looking very small in comparison.
Then, the blow, the fin, and an ever so smooth, tight arc followed by a
dripping butterfly-shaped tail, and down it went for a deep dive.
Numerous,
heavy explosive exhales disturbed the calm, gray water as a large pod of
Steller sea lions burst up for air. It was hard to count the milling, diving,
surging sea mammals; there may have been 20 or more. After a minute or two of
heavy breathing, down they went and all was calm and very still for several
minutes. A casual passerby would think there was nothing to see and move on,
when everything was happening.
"Booooohhhhhh!"
The mighty whale was back, surface diving, a bit farther out. "Paaah!
Paaah! Paaah!" The sea lions boiled back up, rolling, panting, and
snorting. The percussive interlude continued, the whale providing a steady deep
bass, the sea lions their higher, faster staccato, until everyone dove. Then all that remained were the gentle waves
lapping rhythmically on the shore. It was a fascinating, riveting, spectacular
performance with many encores. I still do not know what, whether herring,
needlefish, or other food, is attracting all these sea mammals and seabirds to
the inner bay, but it must be abundant and nutritious.
Mixing
with the murres, were 2 YELLOW-BILLED LOONS, a PACIFIC LOON, a RED-NECKED GREBE
warming up its loud breeding voice, and a few GOLDENEYES. A flock of COMMON
MERGANSERS flew by low over the water. Notably absent were the gulls. I
probably missed a few species, but I had a good excuse to be distracted.
What
a place, Seward!
Happy
Birding!
Carol
Griswold
Seward
Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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