Saturday, November 24, 2012 Junco Make-over


Extreme Makeover

Today was a perfectly lovely day at Lowell Point: sunshine, blue sky, temps in the mid 20s and best of all, no wind. It was a joy to be outside. I tried to bird, but got sidetracked by a couple of eager dogs and spent most of my time pegging T-balls and throwing sticks while looking in vain for Bramblings at the beach.

At least there were a few birds. The HORNED GREBE returned, as did a first winter male HARLEQUIN DUCK. Far down the beach two adult BALD EAGLES flew in a tight circle, carrying on an indignant dispute accompanied by 4 opportunistic gulls.

I did find a very cooperative DARK-EYED JUNCO that posed exactly as I wished the Brambling would: 
1. sitting still for more than a millisecond 
2. in the sun 
3. not very far away
4. unobstructed view

Back home, I gave the junco an extreme makeover, shown below, which might fool a very  enthusiastic and speeding drive-by birder. It was an interesting experiment!

Later I learned that Erik from Healy and Steve from Anchorage managed to find the BRAMBLINGS, one in the morning and two together in the afternoon around 4 pm. Congratulations!

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter









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