Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 4:47 am, sunset 11:07 pm for a total day length of 18 hours and 20 minutes. If that’s not plenty, tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 10 seconds longer.
Sunny May weather continued into June with clear blue skies and a hot high of 71 and an overnight low of 40. Mostly sunny in the forecast through the weekend, though we need rain. All over town, lawn sprinklers revive winter-ravaged lawns and give the trees and shrubs a much-needed drink.
I got a head start on this first day of June as I happened to be outside around 2:50 am with the good dog. The temp was a lovely 50º and calm. I could easily see in the dusky night; the horizon to the north was brightest, heralding the sun. By staring intently overhead, I could barely see two stars, the brighter one I believe was Vega.
So peaceful! A male ROBIN sang sweetly from the spire of the neighbor’s spruce, silhouetted against the north sky. From the depths of the dark forest to the west on Mt Marathon’s slope, a plaintive “beep, beep, beep” kept time. Is this poor SAW-WHET OWL still hoping for a partner?
I wish we could have stayed out longer on this enchanting night, but we regretfully went inside. I tried to sleep with my window open, but soon realized my mistake. The bird world was waking up!
Civil twilight was at 3:21 am. As the light incrementally increased, more birds piped up. An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER trilled, a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER warbled as they do. I even heard a VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW chirping. Was it trying to catch insects in this dim light?
I was hoping to hear Marbled Murrelets conversing as they commuted from the forest to the sea, but had to close the window so I could sleep.
Sleep! What a waste of time! There’s so much going on 24/7!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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