Seward,
Alaska
Sunrise
9:18 am, sunset 6:03 pm for a total day length of 8 hours and 44 minutes.
Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 13 seconds shorter. Don’t forget to set your
clock behind one hour on Saturday night!
The
wind died away and the forecasted snow finally arrived, dusting the green grass
with less than an inch of short-lived white and a taste of winter. With the
temperature rising to the low 40s, it looks like rain and sn’rain for the next
week.
For
a change, I drove out to Lowell Point this noon. I stopped along the roadside
for a COMMON MURRE in winter plumage, diving in water as gray as the sky. I
haven’t seen this normally common seabird in a long time, and it was odd to
only see one.
While
waiting for the murre to surface, I enjoyed the melodic sweet song of a KENAI
SONG SPARROW, standing on a barnacle-encrusted rock at mid-tide. Soon, another
songster replied, and then another. In a short time, I saw four song sparrows
along the rocks. It was fun to watch them poking in the barnacles, often prying
off a delicacy of escargot a la periwinkle, just the right size for a gourmet
sparrow. It was hard to tell if they were also eating the surrounding
barnacles, but it’s possible. Lots of protein stuck to those intertidal rocks.
I
heard the rhythmic breathing of a sea mammal and looked up to find a Steller
Sea Lion swimming my way. It paused and took several deep inhalations, then
dove and disappeared, leaving nothing but a watery footprint. What a pleasure
to hear and see this powerful sea mammal!
A
flicker of white and a flash of a black-tipped tail dashed along the rocks. I
looked hard for the little weasel/ermine, but it remained elusive. There’s not
quite enough snow yet to match its peerless coat.
A
person could see a lot of interesting wildlife along this road if one just
lingered a bit.
Out
at Lowell Point Beach, I heard the scolding of a PACIFIC WREN from the shelter
of the spruce boughs. A BELTED KINGFISHER rattled off and away from its perch
overhanging the water, and a BALD EAGLE chittered from a branch higher up. Two
more Steller sea lions quietly surfaced and cruised past. It was very peaceful,
calm, and gray except for the colorful wheel-spoked jellies lined up along the
recent high tide rows of wrack.
A
few hours later, I received the welcome news that the RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER
was back, tending his sap wells in a large old Mt Ash tree down the alley. This
bird, if it’s the same one, has not been seen since his unfortunate crash into
a window on October 19th. I’m glad he survived!
I
rushed over and enjoyed watching this beauty methodically carve out new sap
wells in the Mt Ash. I counted over 20 along one side, very shallow, and not
nearly as destructive as a single swipe of a moose. He tended to other sap
wells on the other side of the tree, flew up to investigate possible insects in
an adjacent alder with a male DOWNY WOODPECKER, then flew back to the main
tree. The suet blocks were periodically enjoyed by the Downy, but the
Red-breasted Sapsucker ignored them. If the tree is producing any sap, this
bird should be easy to find, tending his sap wells. Several Seward birders also
enjoyed watching him.
DARK-EYED
JUNCOS, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES, and STELLER JAYS flitted through the
neighboring trees.
Almost
at sunset, I took the good dogs for a walk around Two Lakes Park. First Lake
has a thin layer of ice in the middle, and Second Lake is frozen all the way
across. Thanks to that guy’s video of the “singing lake”, there’s a boatload of
rocks on Second Lake. I guess the ice sang! Hopefully, this will all melt and drop
the rocks before ice skating starts.
Another
PACIFIC WREN scolded from the spruce at the edge of the lake. GOLDEN-CROWNED
KINGLETS seeped and sighed high in the treetops. As I approached First Lake,
the cheerful, contented song of a DIPPER merged gently into the dusk.
As
I drove home, a flock of about 10 ROBINS flew overhead, heading for their
night-time roost somewhere in the heart of a dense spruce. Another great day
for birds and wildlife!
Happy
Birding!
Carol
Griswold
Seward
Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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