Sunday, November 4, 2018 Hooded Merganser female!

 Seward, Alaska

While checking the Lagoon this morning, I found a female HOODED MERGANSER diving with a dozen BUFFLEHEAD! The TRUMPETER SWAN family of 8, and the three other adult Swans hungrily tipped up in the ever-shrinking open area. Three River Otters galloped along the shore then dove into the water. A few MALLARDS napped nearby with one eye open on the BALD EAGLE watching the menu from a spruce tree.

The handsome male Hooded Merganser usually shows up first and if we’re lucky, a female. So now I’m looking for the male. Clear Creek was moved back into its main channel this summer to control flooding, but it also lowered one of their favorite fishing areas at the Stash and Store pond. It may no longer be suitable habitat, but is still worth a look as well as Clear Creek by the bridge at the Pit Bar.

Two RED-NECKED GREBES and a HORNED GREBE spotted fishing along the Waterfront in town. 27 COMMON MERGANSERS including one dashing adult male favor the lee of the Uplands. Many Gulls waited expectantly by the seafood processing plant at Lowell Point and along Lowell Point Road: MEW GULLS, GLAUCOUS-WINGED, HERRING GULLS.

Other bird notes:
Wednesday, October 31: I caught a glimpse of a RAVEN flying with a dead STELLER’S JAY in its beak at Lowell Point Beach. A macabre Halloween feast, and unusual for the wily Jay to get caught. I tried to get a better look, but the Raven landed in some thick spruce boughs and neither were unavailable for comment.

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter








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