Seward Alaska Sporadic Bird
Report
Sunrise 6:10 am, sunset 9:42
pm. Length of day 15 hours, 32 minutes; tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 19
seconds longer. Full moon rose at 10:19 pm, will set at 6 am tomorrow.
Clear blue skies cradled the
bright warm sun all day, rocked by strong NNW winds at 15-20 mph, gusting to 39
mph. Max temp of 46ยบ melted a lot of snow along the edges of the snow patches
and shrank their height. The Lagoon is almost ice free.
Bright green shoots of pushki and beach rye grass
poked through last year's withered leaves and brown stalks. Sitka willows are in bloom, ready to
attract insects to pollinate their flowers and feed hungry Kinglets,Warblers,
and Hummingbirds whenever they arrive.
Mile 1 Nash Road at 12:20 pm
A single TRUMPETER SWAN found
the only, tiny section of open water at the back of the frozen wetlands. It blended in
almost perfectly, easily overlooked, until it raised its head up on that long
white neck to briefly look around.
Mile 5 Nash Road by the boat
basin at 12:30 pm:
A single SNOW BUNTING
hunting spiders in the snow
pecking at loose gravel;
where did the others go?
Fourth of July Beach at 1:00
pm:
Two BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS
napped at high tide at Fourth of July Beach, waiting for the tide to retreat
and their grocery store to reopen.
One sleek and curious
Steller's Sea Lion rose up from the waves to check us out, then another, and
another, and another. Soon there were at least 7, possibly 10, treading water,
bumping into each other, snorting, and splashing.
Town at 2:30 pm:
I heard the distinct bugling
of SANDHILL CRANES from my house. I looked up and there were 8 flying right
over town!
Seward Highway 3:40 pm:
Two SWANS flew past the
eastern mountains near the Nash Road wetlands; one could be the same Trumpeter
I saw earlier. A short time later, 11 SWANS circled over the bay, white against
the snowy mountains.
13 CANADA GEESE with 7
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE circled over the head of the bay. A single SANDHILL
CRANE led and then trailed a flock of CANADA GEESE and one CACKLING GOOSE
north.
About 60-80 SNOW GEESE lifted up
like a shaken down pillow, behind them in the distance 100s of GULLS likewise
rose up in a cloud. Eagles or other raptors at work, perhaps?
FOS 4 NORTHERN SHOVELERS napped and dabbled with MALLARDS, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYES, NORTHERN PINTAILS. 7 ARCTIC TERNS ripped overhead.
FOS 4 NORTHERN SHOVELERS napped and dabbled with MALLARDS, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYES, NORTHERN PINTAILS. 7 ARCTIC TERNS ripped overhead.
Town just after sunset at
9:50 pm:
I scanned the violet twilight
evening sky for a glimpse of Jupiter. Instead I found an undulating arc of
about 200 SANDHILL CRANES preceded by an arrow of about 50 GEESE flying into the wind high
in the sky. I watched through my binocs as they flew right over Race Point,
heading north past Mt Marathon. What a glorious finale to a spectacular spring
day!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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