Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 7:45 am, sunset 7:53
pm for at total length of day of 12 hours and 7 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5
minutes and 25 seconds shorter.
Wintry weather this morning! Lacy light snow dusted the mountains then hit town with snow flurries, a dash of sleet, a bit of rain, and stirred the crazy concoction with a brisk
NNE wind. But the surprised grass remained green and the trees bravely clutched their fading leaves, so it must still be Fall.
It was fairly quiet this noon
at Lowell Point beach. Similar to yesterday, 2 HORNED GREBES dove and swam into
the waves, 1 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT flapped laboriously into the wind, a
MARBLED MURRELET popped up nearby and dove in surprise. A curious Harbor Seal
watched for several minutes, then stealthily submerged.
I watched the gulls winging
into the wind, mostly BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, and immature GLAUCOUS-WINGED
GULLS. One distant bird seemed unusually dark with a longish tail. I fumbled for my
binoculars, buried in my parka. A white rump flashed, a nice warm chestnut
brown breast…a NORTHERN HARRIER! The hawk flew with the gulls, then
veered towards land and headed over the beach rye grass at Lowell Point beach.
Hmmm, says I, that must be a crazy quirk, flying over the seething
sea.
About 20 minutes later, while
driving back to Seward on Lowell Point Road, I spotted a dark bird towards the middle of the bay, winging low
over the waves heading NORTH. I pulled over and
checked it out. The HARRIER! Was there any chance of catching a surfing vole or
a flying fish? Did it think it was a Seward Sea Hawk? Birds do the most amazing
things!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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