Another squally day with
bouts of hard rain and peek-a-boo sky.
In a downpour around 2 pm in
town, I heard the stirring cries of SANDHILL CRANES flying overhead in the
clouds. I raced to the head of the bay for a possible better view, but was
again thwarted by the clouds. From the east side of the bay, through a break,
Kerry reported at least 100 cranes flying south in a large V with stragglers
tagging along. For the next several hours, more cranes passed overhead in
intervals, heard but not seen. Around 7 pm, I received a call from just north
of town of a tremendous flock of many hundreds of cranes flying very high, urgently
heading south. It was a banner day for cranes in Seward, the first and possibly
the last migrants.
It was an exciting day for
birding overall. The regal TRUMPETER SWAN family of 6 cygnets had flown from
their nest site at Nash Road to the salt marsh pond to feed. Opportunistic PINTAILS,
WIGEONS, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, MALLARDS and GADWALL surrounded them, profiting
from the swans’ long-necked efforts to dredge up pond plants. Molted swan
feathers floated on the calm surface; more wafted out every time a cygnet
stretched and beat its massive wings.
A brown juvenile or possibly
a female NORTHERN HARRIER steadily looped around the gold and green salt marsh
in the light rain, its white rump flashing. Suddenly, an overly ambitious
MERLIN gave chase, but soon broke off. At one point, the HARRIER chased a RAVEN,
a RAVEN chased another RAVEN, and two BALD EAGLES went after each other.
Everyone chasing somebody!
In the distance, a
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL pursued a juvenile BALD EAGLE, flying past several other
eagles perched in the trees. I started counting eagles, many with their wings
hanging out to dry, for a total of at least 75 adults and juveniles! That’s a
lot of eagles for Seward!
Two unidentified peeps flew
out of the wetlands. A short time later, two DOWITCHERS circled around. (Any ID
on those?) A second HARRIER, also brown, materialized and both hunted low over
the marsh. Several SAVANNAH SPARROWS popped in and out of the beach rye,
perching momentarily on top of the golden stalks before sinking back down.
Through a break in the clouds I caught a glimpse of termination dust on Mt Alice before the clouds regrouped to conceal Nature's little surprise.
To top it off, as I was
leaving, I spotted a splendid cow moose feeding on alders at the edge of the
clearing. That a moose can survive and thrive eating faded alder leaves and
other plants, including bark in winter, is impressive.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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