Friday, November 5, 2021 Snipe! Savannah Sparrow!

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 9:33 am, sunset 5:52 pm, for a total day length of 8 hours and 19 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 4 seconds shorter. After many days of dreary rain, about 4” of wet snow fell overnight with a low of 28º. 

Today, welcome sunshine beamed on the surrounding snowy mountains down to the sparkling bay. The high reached 37º, leaving the snow soft instead of icy, without much melt. A remarkable high tide of 13.29’ crept in at 1:55 pm then stole most of the loose driftwood and debris off the beaches. What a glorious day!

I hung sunflower suet by my two bird feeders and enjoyed the action and chattering of several RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES, and BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES zinging in and out for a quick snack.

Below, a handsome OREGON JUNCO hopped in for left-overs, joined by several DARK-EYED JUNCOS and a bossy SONG SPARROW. They all seemed to appreciate the food and I appreciated them.

I checked the amazing silver salmon run, still going strong despite the recent freeze, then rain, then snow. The rains raised the water level of First Lake and the creek flowing alongside Second Avenue to the Lagoon, enabling the salmon to fight their way past all obstacles to reach the lake. Some made it all the way to the base of the insurmountable waterfall.

I spotted not one, not two, but three DIPPERS checking out the salmon eggs sprinkled on the stream bed. BLACK-BILLED MAGPIES gathered to worry a salmon carcass. Earlier this week, I watched a BALD EAGLE tussle with a flapping silver on the lake shore. 

At dawn (shortly before 10 am) seven Eagles gathered at the Lagoon for a silver salmon buffet. Three sat on the single power pole, overlooking the feast. So impressive!

In the afternoon, I checked Fourth of July Beach and found a single COMMON MURRE paddling quietly off shore. A flock of about 20 REDPOLLS swirled overhead and briefly disappeared into the alders before whirling off again.

Over at Spring Creek, a cheeky Red Squirrel chittered at my car tire then bounded off to continue his tirade from the nearby beach rocks, far from any protective trees. He was very opinionated and had a lot to say!

Just past the breakwater, two WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS took note of an interested Eagle perched on a nearby piling. I had just received a report of another White-winged Scoter near Scheffler Creek by the harbor. I believe these are the first I’ve seen this year.

Two adult TRUMPETER SWANS fed quietly in the remaining open water surrounded by ice on the east side of the Mile 1 Nash Road wetlands. I wonder where the resident family is now?

I checked for the Scoter and a juvenile LONG-TAILED DUCK at the Uplands, but instead found 3 GREAT BLUE HERONS, perched on the derelict blue dipper. It seemed all the birds were celebrating this lovely day with no wind.

After unsuccessfully looking for the Anna’s hummingbird, to my amazement, I found a beautiful WILSON’S SNIPE standing in the snow at the side of Resurrection Boulevard. He froze when my car stopped in the alley and warily watched me. After a while, as nothing happened except peculiar click-click shutter sounds, he started bobbing his hind end, a precursor to moving. Bob, bob, turn, bob, bob, take a few steps, bob. He walked over the snow to a dirty puddle and stood in the icy water for a long time, pausing several times to take a drink, and bob.

Passing vehicles made him freeze and I suspect no one saw him, this remarkable, long-billed, large-eyed, chunky shorebird in the snowmelt. After a time, he walked carefully across the road and thank goodness, safely reached the other side. I hope he finds the Lagoon, not far away, and many invertebrates to eat.

I stopped by the south side of the Lagoon again to marvel at the high tide, covering the bottom two or three steps of the Rotary Pavilion. The other side of the road was completely flooded with silver salmon swimming all over the submerged grass. Another surprise! A small sparrow flew down and landed lightly on the floating mass of spruce needles and began pecking at tidbits: a very late SAVANNAH SPARROW with yellow lores and bubblegum pink legs. 

Tasha reported three AMERICAN COOT still at Bear Lake. Cordova recently reported 13, among several other places. It’s a Coot invasion this fall!

Two intrepid hikers reported a GREAT HORNED OWL flew past them and landed in a tree this afternoon in the forest along the Mt Marathon Hiking Trail. 

Residents, migrants, and lingerers. It’s a fantastic overlapping of birds.

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, October 22, 2021 Red Crossbills, Cassin's Auklet, Salmon

Seward, Alaska

Plop, plop, plop. Ping! 

Spruce cones landed on my driveway and metal roof in a slow rain this afternoon. I peered up into the dark branches in the hard hat zone; no red squirrel dashed off, scolding. Silence, except for the cones hitting and RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES and CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES chatting as they flew between the feeder and the spruce boughs.

 

I set up my spotting scope, as high as it’s ever been, and scanned through the cone-laden branches. Up and up. Tiny bits of spruce seeds floated down. Up and up. Finally! About ten immature/female RED CROSSBILLS, scattered among the branches, industriously tweaked the tiny seeds from the cones. 

 

Perched on a cone, sometimes sideways or upside down, they ate a few seeds then pulled it off the stem and carried with them to dine upright on top of the branch. After a short time, the discarded cone fell overboard and they repeated the process. I never saw them fly down to inspect the fallen cones. No need to be thorough; there are plenty of cones to choose from. 

 

Although the viewing was tough, it was a delight to watch them at dinner; mystery solved!

 

Earlier this afternoon, I found dozens of FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS from the Uplands and along the Waterfront, fluttering in the choppy water. I also finally found a CASSIN'S AUKLET and a MARBLED MURRELET, specks in the distance, bobbing and diving.

 

The seafood processing plant fish “waste” outfall pipe attracted mobs of BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS, SHORT-BILLED GULLS, PELAGIC CORMORANTS, and a few DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS. 

Silver salmon are still migrating to their home streams, luring Harbor Seals and at least four Steller Sea Lions to the mouth of Scheffler Creek just south of the harbor Uplands. 

 

I saw dozens of silvers milling at the Lagoon culvert, waiting to leave the salty/brackish water for the freshwater of the stream. I counted at least 80 silvers swimming up from the Lagoon along the Second Avenue creek leading to First Lake in Two Lakes Park. It was so exciting to see these large, beautiful, powerful fish heading home! This historic run has been noted since at least the early 1950s. Among them, almost unnoticed, I spied a Dolly Varden, patiently waiting to snarf down fresh eggs.

 

Also happy to see the silvers was a DIPPER, dipping as they do, and diving in the creek. A perky PACIFIC WREN poked through the leaves along the edge, alert to the splashings of the ancient ritual. 

 

From the sea to the forest and back; salmon weave the ecosystem together.

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

"Note the all-gray body, faint eyebrow, triangle-shaped bill that is slightly turned up, and larger size than a murrelet." Thanks, Tasha!

Monday, October 18, 2021 American Coot, and Crossbills

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 8:46 am, sunset 6:41 pm for a total day length of 9 hours and 54 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 22 seconds shorter.

 

A nice break in the rain today; a low of 39 and a high of 48 with a chilly north wind. Rain is forecast for the rest of the week.

 

Robin C showed me the AMERICAN COOT at Bear Lake this afternoon at about the same location where Sulli first spotted it on Saturday. It was all alone, bobbing in the waves. If there’s only one bird, how fortunate it’s the rare one! I did not see it dive, though it may have nabbed some aquatic plant bits it prefers from the surface.

 

Although it looked like a dark duck with a white bill (and a red eye), it is a member of the Rail family. Instead of webbed feet, they have lobed toes like Grebes. Several members of the Rail family are flightless, but Coots are migratory and able to fly. Their short, rounded wings and weak flight means they are often blown off course. 

 

Juneau, Seward, Anchorage, Fairbanks have also recently reported Coots. I wonder if the powerful storms over the last several weeks helped blow them northwest from their closest breeding grounds in western Canada?

 

When Bear Lake freezes, the Coot might migrate to Resurrection Bay to feed on eel grass like the resident Trumpeter Swans. Or blow who-knows-where. All the stranded Coots are invited to spend the winter here.

 

About a quarter mile south of the lonely Coot, dozens of ducks including RING-NECKED DUCKS, AMERICAN WIGEON, a MALLARD, a NORTHERN SHOVELER hen, a CANVASBACK pair, BUFFLEHEAD, BARROW’S GOLDENEYES, and SCAUP, and one RED-NECKED GREBE surrounded three adult TRUMPETER SWANS. The divers didn’t need the left-overs from the Swans’ lunch, but the dabblers seemed to appreciate the Swans’ long reach into the buffet. 

 

We did not refind the pair of HOODED MERGANSERS, 6 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, or TRUMPETER SWAN family with 7 cygnets that Sulli and Tasha found on Saturday. Birds on the move, and it’s a big lake.

Seward birder David Jadhon counted an amazing 46 Ring-necked Ducks at 5:30 pm on Monday. This might be a new, unofficial record.

 

Back in town, a PACIFIC WREN scurried around my garage foundation, scolding loudly, practically at my feet. A flock of about a dozen WHITE-WINGED and RED CROSSBILLS descended on nearby spruce trees, then swirled off. I enjoyed hosting a juvenile Red Crossbill on Saturday, the day after I put up my sunflower seed feeder on the garage. 

 

The single feeder also attracted three RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES and at least one CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE. Given the rapid rate of arrival, snatch, and departure, the Nuthatches stashed their prizes nearby. 

 

Other notables: Robin C spotted 3 ANCIENT MURRELETS from the Waterfront with his scope on Sunday. I looked today without a scope and only saw a carpet of Gulls feeding on the harbor seafood processing plant outfall pipe. David H refound them today at 12:20 pm AND 35 FORK-TAIILED STORM-PETRELS. Time to start packing a scope!

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

Update: On October 20, 2021, Tasha counted a remarkable 62 Ring-necked Ducks on Bear Lake.

Saturday, October 9, 2021 Cassin’s Auklet and Anna’s Hummingbird

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 8:24 am, sunset 7:07 pm for a total day length of 10 hours and 42 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 24 seconds shorter.

 

After a rainy Friday, the stars blazed and today dawned mild and sunny. The overnight low was 34, the high 48 with a gentle north breeze. The forecast calls for mostly sunny tomorrow and similar temps; we may see some snow by next weekend.

 

On Thursday, an alert visiting birder spotted a CASSIN’S AUKLET near the Seward harbor, apparently a scope bird. A few hours later upon notification, Seward birders converged on the harbor Uplands to search without success at the harbor mouth and among the throngs of frenzied gulls at the seafood processing outfall. 

 

On Friday, Robin C refound the bird paddling close to shore along Lowell Point Road. 

I did not find it today, but had less time to search. I hope it’s still around. Instead I found an immature PIGEON GUILLEMOT diving and surfacing with algae, which it ate.

 

An ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD was reported visiting a feeder at Second and Madison on October 4 and 5. I did not find this little jewel, and now the feeder is down. With the mild temperatures, many flowers like nasturtiums are still hanging on, perhaps providing some nectar in addition to their diet of spiders and tiny insects. 

 

It’s fascinating that the non-migratory, pioneering Anna’s have extended their range into Cordova, Seward, Cooper Landing, Homer, including Peterson Bay, Nikolaevsk, Kenai, Anchorage, Wasilla and beyond. 

 

Check out the Facebook site “Hummingbird Banding on the Kenai Peninsula.” Expert bander Todd Eskelin has banded 10 males and 1 female hatch year birds so far this season, and knows of an additional 1 or 2 unbanded females in Homer. Of note, he also banded an immature male COSTA’S HUMMINGBIRD in Kenai, a bird that nests in the desert. Exciting!

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

Tuesday, October 5, 2021 Hooded Merganser, Peregrine Falcon, Waterfowl

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 8:15 am, sunset 7:19 pm for a total day length of 11 hours and 4 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 25 seconds shorter.

 

Fall temperatures so far remain moderate with overnight lows in the mid-30s and daytime highs in the upper 40s. The weather cycles between glorious sunshine, strong northerly wind, and calm overcast with rain. Termination dust on the surrounding mountains comes and goes, but will soon become more permanent. Clear skies at night are a delight with the return of familiar constellations, and bright Jupiter and fainter Saturn glowing in the south.

 

Thanks to a hot tip, I found a female HOODED MERGANSER back at the Lagoon in the company of several BARROW’S and COMMON GOLDENEYES, all recently returned. While the larger ducks lounged, the Hoody busily dove and resurfaced with small fish. The sticklebacks in particular, seemed to give her a hard time with all their spiny fins extended to delay the inevitable trip down the gullet.

 

Ghostly schools of salmon swam below the ducks, still intent on fulfilling their destiny. Soon, their eggs and carcasses will provide sustenance to many birds and nutrients to the Lagoon ecosystem.

 

Small scattered rafts of SURF SCOTERS and a few RED-NECKED GREBES have also recently returned to the bay to overwinter. In addition to the Lagoon Barrow’s Goldeneyes, I found a nice flock of about 30 bathing in the outlet of Lowell Creek over the weekend.

 

On October 2, I strained to identify a raft of assorted ducks on Bear Lake from the public access at Old Sawmill Creek Road. Unfortunately, I did not bring my scope. But among the dabbling MALLARDS and AMERICAN WIGEON, I spied a single female NORTHERN SHOVELER and a couple pairs of diving RING-NECKED DUCKS. This is a good location to look for and hopefully find some fall oddities before the lake freezes.

 

On Sunday afternoon on October 3, I received a report of 5-6 Swans right at the salmon stream a short distance down the Iditarod Trail. 

 

That same afternoon at the tidelands, I watched many hundreds of gulls (KITTIWAKES, SHORT-BILLED, GLAUCOUS-WINGED) suddenly take off in the distance. I whipped up my binocs and found a suspicious dark bird, not the usual Eagle, hurtling through the frenzied cloud. 

 

My suspicion was verified when to my delight, a young PEREGRINE FALCON landed on a piece of driftwood down the beach. It looked a bit wet, possibly from an unexpected water landing, as it teetered in the wind, balancing on its perch. It soon flew off, rousing the few ducks in the pond, and disappeared. Wow!

Also on Sunday, about 7:30 pm near dusk, I received a report from Anchorage of 4 large Vs of birds, thought to be geese, migrating south. I had thought migration was over, but not so! I looked, watched and listened the next day without success. Instead, three LAPLAND LONGSPURS vocalized briefly and disappeared over the waving beach ryegrass, on their way south.

 

As the season continues to change, birds are on the move, some still migrating far south, others migrating here for the winter. It’s a fun time for surprises and reunions!

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, September 21, 2021 Not a leaf!

 Seward, Alaska

The furious northwest wind did indeed pick up last night, breaking off tree branches overburdened with leaves and churned the bay into a rainbow-splashed froth of whitecaps and water spouts. A few snow pellets sailed around in the morning, but soon the sun returned to brighten the exciting, power scene.

 

I searched for the Sandhill Crane family in the waving grasses without success. All they had to do was lift their wings then steer to blow halfway to California on this expressway. Maybe they’ve arrived already!

 

While checking for seabirds at Spring Creek on the east side of the bay, a leaf shot across the parking lot like the rest of the tumbling cottonwood and alder leaves then turned and blew back. What the heck? A SWALLOW! 

 

I tried desperately to follow it with my camera, almost getting seasick trying to track the rapid loops and dives as it flashed over the pond, behind the trees and over the gravel parking lot. I switched to binocs and thought I saw a faint band. It also seemed small. A BANK SWALLOW? It sure reminded me of the Bank Swallow that accompanied the Purple Martins seen here last October.

 

The unanswerable questions remain: where did this Swallow blow from and why is it here? Regardless, it sure was fun to find it in the teeth of that wind, seemingly unfazed. 

 

Unfazed as well was the resident TRUMPETER SWAN family, calmly feeding at their Nash Road pond home as the wind screamed overhead. I haven’t yet spotted the family away from the pond, but the four cygnets should be flight capable by now.

 

NOAA predicts clear skies tonight with a low around 33 and that good old NW wind sweeping away the last vestiges of summer at 50 to 60 mph. My house is already shaking and the trees are dancing violently. Hold on to your hat!

(Update: that overnight velocity fortunately did not materialize in Seward.)

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

Monday, September 20, 2021 Crane family!

 Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 7:39 am, sunset 8:05 pm for a total day length of 12 hours and 25 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 25 seconds shorter as we approach the fall equinox on Wednesday at 11:21 am.

 

Summer ended with a spectacular warm and sunny weekend with a high of 57º. While many trees are still wearing green, others have changed into gorgeous golds, reds, and yellows as overnight lows reach close to freezing. Subalpine areas glow maroon and gold below the fresh snow on the summits.

 

A big windstorm is forecast to hit tonight through Wednesday with sustained winds between 30 and 40 mph, gusting to 50 mph. That might blow a few birds in!

 

A late family of SANDHILL CRANES with one colt landed at the head of the bay this afternoon ahead of the storm and fed voraciously among the sedges. A bonus was an adult GREAT BLUE HERON fishing in the background.

 

These are the first Cranes to land this fall; the other large flocks spotted September 7 and another wave September 12 passed high over Seward heading southeast, taking advantage of fair skies. Stormy weather often encourages a stop-over in Seward during spring and fall migrations.

 

On my way out to Lowell Point this afternoon, a Pine Martin shot across the road and dove into an opening at the bottom of a rusty dumpster by the seafood processing plant. What a cute little face! So bright-eyed and perky! He rummaged about for a few minutes, popping up to check on the paparazzi from various peep holes, then dashed back across and disappeared into the brush. It’s been a long time since I last saw one; so special!

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter