Seward, Alaska
The north wind screamed, steam rose off the white-capped bay, the thermometer hovered in the mid-teens, heavy overcast threatened snow, the sun rose at 9:54 am and set 6 hours and 11 minutes later at 4:06 pm.
Tucked in the woods, a tiny Anna’s hummingbird perched on top of his sugar water feeder, inspiring and humbling the bundled-up 2019 Audubon Seward Christmas Bird Count volunteers.
Winter storms postponed the Count twice, hoping for better weather that never came. As we reached the last possible Saturday on January 4, a small craft advisory with a heavy freezing spray warning, north wind to 25 knots and seas 5 feet effectively canceled the Resurrection Bay survey. That cut out about 15 square miles of the Count Circle centered at Nash Road and the Seward Highway.
Nonetheless, 17 intrepid field counters collectively drove 79 miles, walked 16 miles, skied 4 miles, snowshoed 4.23 miles, and hand-cycled 3.5 miles, starting in the predawn hour of 8 am to the darkness of 5:30 pm. Eight feeder counters collectively watched their feeders for 30 hours.
In addition to the incredible Anna’s hummingbird, other exciting discoveries awaited. A Canvasback, Northern Shoveler, and a Ring-necked Duck made the Count for the first time. A remarkable 4 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, another species that should have migrated, endured the cold winter. Owls were well represented with 2 Great-horned Owls, two surprise Short-eared Owls, and a Saw-whet Owl.
Varied Thrushes seemed to be everywhere this winter, scoring a record 69 birds. Robins weren’t far behind with 44, almost reaching the previous record of 49 in 2001. Twenty-six Snow Buntings, which hadn’t yet been seen this winter, popped up at Tonsina Point.
17 species only had one individual including Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, King Eider, Hooded Merganser, Spruce Grouse, Willow Ptarmigan, Pacific Loon, Common Loon, Yellow-billed Loon, Great Blue Heron, Three-toed Woodpecker, Northern Shrike, and a Hoary Redpoll. Only 4 Trumpeter Swans were seen, down from 11 last year.
The highest count was 702 White-winged Crossbills, close to the 2015 record of 855, mostly concentrated in Old Mill Subdivision. Honk if you see these birds on the road getting gravel. Pine Siskins and Common Redpoll numbers seemed to be increasing over the past few weeks, with 298 and 481 respectively. These irruptive species were mostly absent last year.
In all, 72 species and 3633 birds were counted, plus three additional species for Count Week, the 3 days before and 3 days after Count Day. This is 16 species more than the 61 species and 1649 more birds than the 1984 birds counted in 2018, a low count year.
Many thanks to the dedicated volunteers who spent many hours and effort to look for birds and keep track of statistics for this citizen science effort. Special thanks to Captain Mike Brittain for standing by, ready to safely transport the boat team around Resurrection Bay in the trusty M/V Dora.
Thanks to Resurrect Art Coffee House & Art Gallery for graciously hosting the birders before and after the Count.
The long winter is far from over. Keep those feeders full of sunflower seeds and suet. And sugar water, if you happen to have a hummingbird!
Happy Birding!
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter and Seward CBC Compiler
Carol Griswold
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