Yakutat, Alaska
Annette of Leonard’s Landing
kindly gave me a ride to the Yakutat Airport at 8:15 this morning. Close to the road
by the Lodge, a Sitka Blacktailed Deer paused to look at us, then wandered off.
The airport didn’t open until
around 8:30, so I enjoyed watching the BARN SWALLOWS swoop around the buildings
and dash into their mud nests on the ends. As soon as possible, I checked my
bags and then Mary Willson scooped me up for one last mini-field trip before
the 11 am check-in.
We headed right for Cannon
Beach, a superlative, fascinating place. This time, instead of walking along
the bluff, we walked on the beautiful sandy beach to the old barge wreck about
a half mile away. That thing is not going anywhere anytime soon!
On the way back, we saw two
spouts and I finally got good looks at migrating Gray Whales, possibly a mom
and calf. Unlike the Humpback Whale, there is no definite dorsal fin, just
bumps. That was exciting!
We found Dungeness Crab claws
and Razor Clam shells scattered along the sparse wrack line. Two CASPIAN TERNS
flew overhead and called with their prehistoric voices.
Back up on the bluff, a FOX
SPARROW perched at the tip of a young spruce, swaying in the breeze. A BELTED
KINGFISHER sped past with a fat little fish in its bill. After he perched, he
flipped it around to face head out, perhaps ready to feed a youngster. A TREE
SWALLOW swooped overhead. Add BALD EAGLES (of course!) and a RAVEN.
Just before we came to the
rusty WWII cannon, a large woodpecker flashed across the clearing and
disappeared into the woods. I followed for a short distance, marveling at the
low light levels. Almost nothing grew under these densely packed spruce except
mosses and lichens. It was rather spooky!
We did a quick run towards
Strawberry Point to see the beautiful Shooting Stars one more time. I was
reminded of William Wordsworth’s poem,
“I wandered Lonely as a Cloud/The Daffodils”:
“I gazed and gazed, but
little thought,
What wealth the show to me
had brought…”
I’ll think back about all the
fabulous birds, animals, people, scenery, and experiences I enjoyed at the Yakutat
Tern Festival,
“and then my heart with
pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” (or Shooting Stars…”
The flight back to Cordova
was fairly cloudy with peeks at the massive Malaspina Glacier, the enormous
Bering Glacier, and the immense Copper River Delta. The clouds opened up a
little more on the way to Anchorage, granting me a view of impressive Columbia
Glacier which I had missed on the way out.
Soon the wind generators of
Fire Island were below and the jet descended into the big city sprawled across
the landscape. After a stop at Costco, I drove the 120 miles back to Seward,
noting a pair of TRUMPETER SWANS with one year-old cygnet at the mile 15 pond.
Hmmmm. Daddy’s Girl?
Welcome home!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Traveling Seward Sporadic
Bird Report Reporter
PS Not counting my mystery birds, Flame, or Ghost, I tallied 66 species!
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