Seward,
Alaska Sporadic Bird Report
Sunrise
7:48 am, sunset pm, 7:49 length of day 12 hours, 0 minutes; tomorrow will be 5
minutes and 25 seconds shorter. This is more like Equinox, (equal night), a bit
out of synch.
Weather:
Last night's wind died down leaving ghostly morning fog and mist with temps in
the high 40s. After a short rain burst, the hose finally turned off. What a joy
to have a break for several hours! I found the silver lining in the clouds when
the sun somehow filtered through the squall-laden layers and ignited the
ephemeral wreath hugging the mountains. More rain and wind are in the forecast with a
surprise sunny day on Sunday, subject to recall.
Taking
advantage of the break in the weather, I birded around the head of the bay,
joining Robin C. Two GREAT BLUE HERONS fished in the salt marsh pond and two
juvenile NORTHERN HARRIERS wafted over the flattened and sodden grasses and
sedges while a juvenile BALD EAGLE hung its soggy wings to dry. A tight flock
of DOWITCHERS flushed in the distance, too dark to tell which species. (Thanks,
Buzz, for the ID!)
Shortly
before noon, I heard the excited bugling cry of SANDHILL CRANES! Looking up, I
saw over 200 cranes streaming south, funneled along the Kenai Mountain range.
About a half hour later, another large flock of about 200 more cranes suddenly
appeared out of the clouds, high overhead and aiming south. About a half hour
later, around 1 pm, I heard yet another flock, but it was too high and obscured
by the clouds. What a wonderful sound and sight!
Along
the beach, we refound yesterday's peeps fairly far out at the tide's edge. Buzz
again helped with ID: probably WESTERNS and maybe a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER or
two mixed in. He noted Westerns have a hunched back or "bull neck"
look, while Semi-palmated sandpipers are slightly sleeker with a slightly
shorter and more blunt-tipped bill. Unfortunately, it was too dark and they
were too far away to see or photograph these characteristics. I'll keep trying.
An
unusual sparrow caught our eyes, hiding in the driftwood and grasses. Finally
it stopped and posed: it had a bright white bib and an odd bright white patch
on the back of its head. The only bird I can figure out is a GOLDEN-CROWNED
SPARROW with a weird hair-do. Robin C mentioned that he has seen a lot of
golden-crowns around town recently. It was accompanied by a SAVANNAH SPARROW,
doing its usual popcorn hops along the beach and in the beach rye grass.
A
HERMIT THRUSH popped up too, an unusual sight along the beach. Then a small
flock of around 7 other birds burst out of the grass and dashed away; perhaps
Longspurs or Pipits?
As
we neared the end of the debris-laden beach, two MERLINS shot overhead
apparently chasing each other at top speed. We left after admiring the juvenile
NORTHERN HARRIER perched on a stump. It then leapt aloft to resume hunting voles,
around and around his route, enjoying the respite from the rain probably even
more than we did.
Happy
Birding!
Carol
Griswold
Seward
Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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