Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 4:48 am, sunset 11:07 pm for a total daylight of 18 hours and 20 minutes. Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 9 seconds longer.
Gorgeous first day of June! Finally felt like summer! Overnight low of 41, high of 63 at midday with a moderate south breeze. Everything is green, green, green! More sunshine forecast for Saturday and mostly sunny on Sunday, followed by scattered showers through Friday.
The salmon are in, both Kings and Reds, and bait balls. Humpbacks whales, up to three, can be seen right from the Waterfront in front of town, lunge-feeding under a crying cloud of KITTIWAKES and other gulls. Humans line the shore or wade as deep as their gear allows, trying fairly successfully, to snag passing salmon.
If fishermen leave the cleaned carcasses, BALD EAGLES swoop in from their surveillance positions high overhead, diving down with speed and focus to snatch up the red-fleshed treats. Often, another Eagle gives chase and forces the victor to drop the prize.
If fishermen leave the cleaned carcasses, BALD EAGLES swoop in from their surveillance positions high overhead, diving down with speed and focus to snatch up the red-fleshed treats. Often, another Eagle gives chase and forces the victor to drop the prize.
I watched one magnificent adult descend and expertly pluck a carcass from the sandy tidelands off Afognak Beach. When I checked my photos later, I noticed that it was the Eagle with the severely damaged upper bill. It looks like this resilient bird is healing and not only surviving, but thriving.
Back near the creek, a SPOTTED SANDPIPER slowly walked along the water’s edge, bobbing its rear end. It froze, then suddenly darted its long orangish bill into the shallow water and pulled out a wriggling salmon fry. After hauling the fish away from the water like any prudent fisher, the Sandpiper proceeded to beat the tiny fish on the sand until it was suitably subdued. Down the hatch!
Salmon, in all their many stages of life from egg to fry to smolt, juveniles, adults, and carcasses, sustain so many other species, including plants and trees. What a gift to us all!
In other exciting news, the Nash Road TRUMPETER SWAN eggs have hatched! The family was mostly hidden in the sedges near the nest, but I believe I spotted at least four tiny, short-necked, white cygnets. Congratulations to the proud parents!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
No comments:
Post a Comment