Seward, Alaska Sporadic Bird
Report
Sunrise 5:56 am, sunset 9:55
pm. Length of day15 hours and 58 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 14
seconds longer.
It didn't seem like the last
day of April with big piles of crusty snow and ice still here, their welcome
long since expired. The leaden clouds tried to further extend Winter, but only
managed some feeble snowflakes and a lot of bluster. The south wind at 3 to 10
mph with gusts to 16 mph was not at all warm, and temperatures ranged in the
high 30s to low 40s.
The morning started more
Spring-like, with a cheery ROBIN and lusty VARIED THRUSH singing from nearby
treetops. Two FOX SPARROWS jump-scratched under the spruce trees, and the few remaining PINE SISKINS chattered from the boughs. No REDPOLLS were seen or heard, vanished with the wind.
At the Scheffler Creek area
south of the Harbor Uplands, a dozen newly arrived DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS
squeezed together on an exposed rock at low tide while others preened and posed
on the old dock pilings. Their flowing eyebrow feathers were quite impressive.
Nearby, bright HARLEQUIN
DUCKS, a few BARROW'S GOLDENEYES, the first year male BLACK SCOTER, and a
single male SURF SCOTER dove for mussels. A pair of MALLARDS, NORTHWESTERN
CROWS, and several MEW and GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS worked the shoreline. Four or
more pairs of MARBLED MURRLETS dove together offshore. A single male
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER swam past. At least four noisy ARCTIC TERNS zipped between the
shore and the buoys, where a crowd of gulls feasted at the seafood processor
birdfeeder. It was a very active spot with a lot of variety.
The Lagoon is mostly ice-free.
COMMON MERGANSERS, COMMON GOLDENEYES, MALLARDS, and BUFFLEHEAD paddled around
or snoozed on shore. No sign of the Hooded Merganser.
By noon, the squalls began
marching up the bay, spitting snow first on the east side, then the west, and
finally down the middle. Six beautiful SWANS emerged from one of the snow clouds, winging
their way steadily north.
The south wind brought more
flocks of bugling SANDHILL CRANES, flying in expansive, flowing lines across the sky. I
watched a wave of at least 100 cranes at 6:18 pm and another larger flock at
6:40 pm, both heading high overhead and up the Resurrection River valley,
possibly bound for Kenai. What a thrilling sight!
Every day seems to bring more
SANDHILL CRANES, TRUMPETER SWANS, GEESE, NORTHERN SHOVELERS, NORTHERN PINTAILS,
GREEN-WINGED TEAL, BUFFLEHEAD, GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, MALLARDS, ARCTIC TERNS, and
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS. So far the only shorebird species I have found are
GREATER YELLOWLEGS.
Other bird notes:
April 27: PACIFIC WREN
singing along Tonsina Trail, 3 BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS at Tonsina Beach
April 28: 24 SANDHILL CRANES
and 4 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE at salt marsh, 1 TRUMPETER SWAN at mile 1
Nash Road wetlands.
April 29: 6 LAPLAND LONGSPURS
at the beach tidelands
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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