Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 5:25 am, sunset 10:45 pm for a total day length of 17 hours and 19 minutes. Tomorrow will be four minutes and 35 seconds shorter.
The week began with 5-6” of accumulated rain and flooding, and ended with five days of sunshine soaring to a July high of 66ยบ today. Hot!
After a long hiatus, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD action at my feeder really picked up during the rain. Two Hummers actually shared the feeder on opposite sides for several minutes rather than chasing each other off as usual. I had at least three zooming in and out all day.
I learned from hummingbird expert Todd Eskelin that juveniles and adult females look very similar and are the same size by now. Banders can look at their beaks with a magnifying glass to verify age. Hatch-year birds have fine striations covering most of the upper bill vs the smooth, hard bill of an adult with little or no grooving.
Also, the juveniles rarely have any gorget feathers but just lots of stippling dots on the throat. Adult females will often have more of a central gorget spot. Of course, the dazzling adult males migrated a long time ago, so that helps a bit.
It is also hard to tell the gender of juveniles without seeing the tail spread. Banders can lift the upper tail coverts and check the central tail feathers. If they are more than 50% rufous, it is a male, and less, it’s a female. So, I don’t know the gender or age of my hummers.
On Tuesday at the beach, angry SHORT-BILLED GULLS dive-bombed an immature BALD EAGLE that had the audacity to sit at their nest in a short spruce tree. She must have found something of interest like unhatched eggs or nestlings, though it seems very late. The Gulls eventually drove off the giant predator, but it was probably too late for whoever was in the nest.
A pulse of about 50 peeps moved through, flashing in synchrony along the tideline. Three SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS fed in the shallows. I also heard an ALDER FLYCATCHER and some ARCTIC TERNS.
As the rain tapered off on Wednesday, “my” VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS fledged. The box was silent and looked abandoned. Happy they fledged, sad they’re gone.
That afternoon at least six Violet-green Swallows swooped and chirruped over my yard, some begging mid-air, a joyous sound and sight. What exhilarating freedom after being cooped up in a nest box for so long!
Later, there were at least 20 Swallows flying low over the street; I stopped in my tracks to enjoy the spectacle.
The next day, Thursday, July 23, it seemed the unseasonable north wind with gusts to 24 mph blew everything south. No Swallows, no Hummingbirds, no Terns.
Not quite everything; 16 Short-billed Dowitchers stitched at the tidelands with two Yellowlegs.
One Rufous Hummingbird remained on Friday. She actually hovered at my kitchen window where I was lurking, as if to complain about the service. I swapped out the feeder solution!
Also on Friday was a surprise SOLITARY SANDPIPER at First Lake in Two Lakes Park. At first, I thought it was a Lesser Yellowlegs, but not with those conspicuous white eye-rings. It bobbed its tail and walked through the shallows, picking up tidbits. A newly emerged dragonfly zoomed past.
Saturday around 11:30 pm, I again heard a distant SAW-WHET OWL beeping from forested slopes of Mt Marathon. Nice to hear him, but is he still trying to attract a mate?
Sunday morning while enjoying breakfast in the yard, I froze as a Rufous Hummingbird hovered in a nearby lilac, sipping nectar from one fragrant flower after another. It’s a lot of work to hover-feed, and after several minutes, it perched on a twig to rest. Lilacs, like many other flowers, bloomed late this year, and provide food for any lingering hummers.
A walk at the beach turned up one GREATER YELLOWLEGS and a singing LINCOLN’S SPARROW.
This afternoon, in the heat, I came across an adult ROBIN all stretched out, relaxing and soaking up the sun on the Two Lakes Trail. I stopped, but eventually two other hikers joined me and he flew off, disgruntled at being disturbed. He, like the rest of us, appreciated the return of summer.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
