Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 9:52 am, sunset 3:52 pm, for a total day length of 5 hours and 59 minutes. Tomorrow will be 1 minute and 44 seconds shorter.
Due to the disruption of the Polar Vortex and subsequent Polar Express, sunny, cold, and windy conditions continued with a low of 9 and a high of 13 F. North winds 5-12 with gusts to 27 mph.
This may seem relatively balmy compared to the extreme, frigid Arctic air in the Interior and parts of eastern Lower 48, thanks to the “ocean effect” of steaming Resurrection Bay, but it’s cold for Seward. The weekend forecast predicts single-digit temps and winds gusting to 44 mph. There is no relief in sight.
Every morning before dawn, I put out the heated feeder and start watching for that tiny, miraculous ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD. Did he somehow survive another 18-hour night in the intense cold and wind?
It was still dusky dark at 9:10 this morning when I caught a ghostly movement at the heated feeder. Using binocs to piece the gloom, I saw him, perched on the feeder sipping breakfast like it was summer!
Unlike more southern Hummers, he had shivered himself out of torpor in the coldest temperatures of the day without benefit of the sun’s warming rays. How does he do it?
Throughout the day when I could watch, he visited about every 10-20 minutes, often ticking loudly, a lively little sprite zooming around and carefree. As twilight returned, his short day and feeding also ended early, around 4 pm. Then, off to his secret shelter for the long, long, cold night.
This afternoon, I received another gift, a YELLOW-BILLED LOON! As I watched a few HORNED GREBES and RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS from the harbor uplands, the beautiful Loon swam in from the bay. He paused in front of the boat harbor to preen and stretch before resuming his dives. Unfortunately, the cold sapped my camera batteries (both of them!) and I couldn’t take more photos.
On the way home, dozens of ROBINS flew across the road in the 500 block of Second Ave, likely part of the flock of 40. PINE GROSBEAKS fly and feed with them in the ever-diminishing stock of Mt Ash berries. It’s lovely to hear their melodies from the treetops, especially uplifting in the wind and cold.
On Monday, December 8, I heard a SAW-WHET OWL beeping from the mountainside about 10:30 pm. On Tuesday, I counted a pair of TRUMPETER SWANS with 4 cygnets by the Afognak Beach rock, and another 26 Swans in the distance by the eelgrass beds: 30 Swans!
Tough birds all!
Happy Brrrrding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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