Wednesday, September 13, 2017 Tern Lake and Dave’s Creek

Mile 38, Seward Highway

On the way home from Portage, we stopped at Tern Lake. The resident TRUMPETER SWAN family with a single gray cygnet napped on a grassy island in the middle of the lake. I did not see the resident Common Loon family that raised two chicks. More than 20 SCAUP with a few AMERICAN WIGEON and small groups of MALLARDS dabbled near the shore. The light was too dim to determine which Scaup species.

We then drove to the day use area. A large school of Red Salmon swam near the observation deck. Just above the bridge, beaver(s) had delivered freshly cut small trees and started to build a dam. It looked like the middle section blew out and lodged against the rocks below the bridge.  Or maybe they weren’t done yet and had started several dams. This could be a catastrophe if they succeed.

A Red Salmon waited in a pool below the lower pile of branches, considering a route up the cascading stream through the branches to the lake.

Two RUSTY BLACKBIRDS and a HERMIT THRUSH hopped along the tangle of branches, picking off flies. They flew into the underbrush upon our approach, waiting for us to leave. So we did.

What a treat to have seen them!

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter




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