Thursday, July 9, 2026 Sandpipers, Babies, Common Murre deformed bill

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 4:51 am, sunset 11:17 pm for a total day length of 18 hours and 25 minutes. Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 3 seconds shorter.

 

Weather remained mostly cloudy and cool with lows in the mid-40s and highs in the 50s. Green is the color of rain and there are dozens of hues, shades, tints, and tones for the solar panel leaves to choose from, with floral accessories.

 

The frenetic Seward Fourth of July celebration caused in a gap in my birding and posting though I was always listening and looking. 

 

A ROBIN serenaded the whole neighborhood from the top of my spruce tree for several evenings; his sweet notes soothed my soul even while declaring his territory. Not to be outdone, a HERMIT THRUSH played his woodland flute from the mountainside. 

 

Remarkably, at 12:30 am after the July 3 fireworks, the lonesome SAW-WHET OWL was reported beeping from the forest of Mt Marathon. I confirmed that on July 8 at 12:15 am. He seemed to be waiting for the duskiness of a Seward night, limited though it was.

 

On June 29, thanks to a tip from Robin C, I photographed a COMMON MURRE, possibly a first-year bird, actively preening just offshore of the Waterfront. A closer look revealed a deformed bill with the upper mandible severely crossed over the lower. He was able to preen and seemed alert and healthy so maybe the deformity has not interfered with catching fish.

 

It’s baby time! The young Corvids, RAVENS, BLACK-BILLED MAGPIES, and STELLER’S JAYS are almost full-sized and already adept at flying. Like teenagers, they like their independence but still beg insistently and loudly for handouts.

 

I surprised a momma GADWALL with 6 ducklings on June 29. One veered off as the others scurried to safety with mom and huddled, still as a stone. I hope they were reunited after I hustled away. 

 

I am sure now that the large ARCTIC TERN colony has collapsed, leaving only six adults. One Tern chick was reported last week, but I haven’t seen it. Their neighboring SHORT-BILLED GULLS were very protective of a single tiny gull puff wandering away from the nest site. There may be more, but I don’t want to disturb them to check.

 

The SPOTTED SANDPIPER babies have recently fledged. How funny to see that they dip and bob when fresh into the world, just like the adults.

 

On June 30, a WESTERN SANDPIPER adult fed with a loose flock of 20 LEAST SANDPIPERS. I expect many of the Least Sandpipers nested locally, but was surprised to see the Western.

Judging from a SAVANNAH SPARROW’s beakful of insects, their babies have hatched. I watched an adult walking around on top of a dense growth of Beach Greens, nimbly catching flies and other insects.

 

In early July, Six DOWITCHERS returned to feed in the shallow estuary pond as if they’d never left. 

Robin C reported a KILLDEER on July 6 in the Harbor Uplands, an unusual and brief summer sighting.

The young TRUMPETER SWAN cygnet continues to flourish under the watchful eyes of its magnificent parents, though they are often on the far side of the wetlands and hard to see.

 

Coming and going and growing. It’s summer!

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

 

Sunday, June 28, 2026 Trumpeter Swan Family Reveal

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 4:37 am, sunset 11:27 pm for a total day length of 18 hours and 49 minutes. Tomorrow will be 1 minute and 22 seconds shorter.

 

Mild temperatures continued this week with lows in the 40s rising into the 50s on the mostly cloudy, sprinkly, foggy days. Thursday, however, was a beaut with blue skies and sunshine, cracking into the low 60s with a pleasant north wind. 

The forecast calls for mostly cloudy with showers and some sunshine heading into the world-famous Mt Marathon Race and the Fourth of July festivities over the weekend.

 

I’ve been checking on the TRUMPETER SWAN family at Mile 1, Nash Road. Mostly, the mom (typically) sat on the nest while the dad fed far away in the pond. Sometimes, I could not see anyone, and other times, only one head poked up above the wetland vegetation far in the back. 

 

The Swans have been tending the nest since at least May 22, so the 31 to 35-day incubation was just about done. Last year, the nest failed due to high water, so I was eager to see success. 

 

On June 25, both parents were together in the water below the nest, mostly hidden by the green water horsetails, but they appeared to be bookending something precious between them. Alas, I could not see and they didn’t paddle into the open.

 

On June 26, I checked in the morning and found nothing, not even a glimpse of white anywhere. They sure can hide! 

 

I checked again in the afternoon and to my delight, the Swan family was RIGHT BY THE ROAD. Between the two adults was ONE adorable cygnet, only one to two days’ old.

 

Only the Swans know what happened to the other eggs, from two to seven, but what a thrill to see this tiny, short-necked, pearl-gray cygnet after a year’s-long absence! 

 

On June 22, Merlin identified the descending “BREE-err” song of a WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE in the woods. This is an uncommon but not unexpected species for our area. I searched but could not find the ventriloquist.

 

Also heard, the enthusiastic songs of a FOX SPARROW, SONG SPARROW, NORTHERN YELLOW WARBLER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, AMERICAN ROBIN, and PINE SISKINS.

 

On June 24, a reverberating syncopated rapping on my house woke me up. I caught sight of a male HAIRY WOODPECKER flying to a tree by my window before he vanished. I hope he will not devour my cedar siding like his brethren did to Ava Ead’s home!

 

Later, I found a usually elusive WILSON’S SNIPE sitting on a stump in the sun. I passed without flushing it, and watched it tuck in for a nap. Overhead, a male winnowed like spring, a tiny sky speck.

 

The mystery of the ARCTIC TERNS continued. On sunny June 25, I counted 61 Terns swarming along the head of the bay before settling down on the mudflats. Another five or so were spotted by the nest sites, but no fish deliveries were seen. 

 

Back home, the CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES fledged around June 22, leaving the nest box but not the yard where they could be heard begging.

 

The cold, snowless, and windy winter devastated many plants, notably salmonberry, raspberries, and roses, their dead canes now apparent against the green survivors. Many of the Bigleaf Lupines seem to have died as well.

 

Despite the dry, cool, and late spring, brown chocolate lilies, magenta shooting stars, white starflowers, pink nagoon berries, blue wild flag irises, and others burst into bloom, a welcome and colorful start of summer.

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

 

Sunday, June 21, 2026 Gull Fish Frenzy, Wandering Tattler, Dead Fin Whale

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 4:33 am, sunset 11:28 pm for a total day length of 18 hours and 54 minutes. Happy Summer Solstice! Tomorrow will be 0 minutes and 6 seconds shorter. 

 

While western Europe and parts of the Lower 48 sizzle in a record-breaking heat wave with temps over 104º F (40 C), hot enough to deform railroad tracks, Seward remained in the low 40s to mid 50s with light southerly winds. After Sunday’s big rainstorm, we were treated to mostly sunny days.

 

The thick wrack at Afognak Beach on Monday again proved productive for foraging birds and me. I spotted a male YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER with two slender white moose hairs in his bill, perhaps an embellishment for the nest.

 

A VARIED THRUSH joined the usual ROBINS and HERMIT THRUSHES and packed many tasty tidbits into his bill, marine invertebrate versions of an urban lawn.

 

Sawmill Creek flooded the intertidal area so that it was impossible to cross the many channels without hip waders. Instead of a nice, long beach walk across the flats to the low tideline, I stopped at the main channel to watch a show. 

 

An excited group of noisy Gulls, mostly GLAUCOUS-WINGED, and a few HERRING GULLS, hovered as best they could above the main channel, spotting for migrating fish. Others stood in the icy water up to their bellies, like combat fishers, sharp eyes searching the clear stream.

 

When a fish was seen, the spotter dove down accompanied by its “friends” in a flurry of feathers. If lucky, the Gull nailed the fish amid a great outcry and gobbled it down before it was stolen. Though the fishing/catching seemed slow, the chance of catching or stealing a fish made it worth the considerable effort.

 

VIOLET-GREEN and TREE SWALLOWS swooped around the intertidal channels. Photographing the fast and erratic insect catchers was futile but I did manage to track a CLIFF SWALLOW with my binoculars darting among them. Cliff Swallows have become uncommon in this area due to loss of several key nesting sites (and probably many other factors), so it was great to find one.

 

On June 17 at Two Lakes Park, I heard and saw two PACIFIC WRENS by Second Lake. STELLER JAY parents fed a screeching fledgling high on a spruce branch.

 

At the head of the bay, a family of SPOTTED SANDPIPERS flushed ahead of me with one fledgling, leaving a dainty embroidery of tracks in the sand.

 

I finally photographed a LINCOLN’S SPARROW singing its melodious, bubbling song on June 18.

 

On June 19, a single LESSER YELLOWLEGS foraged on the tide flats.

 

I was alarmed to count 44 ARCTIC TERNS napping in the sun next to an intertidal stream. This is roughly my estimate, 40-50, for the total adult population. The colony in the grass seemed very quiet. I hoped that the sun served as incubator and the parents were taking a well-deserved break. 

 

I learned later that the enormous Royal Caribbean quantum-class cruise ship “Ovation of the Seas” arrived in port early Friday morning on its second Seward visit, with a dead, pregnant, 61’ fin whale draped over its bulbous bow.

 

She was towed to Lowell Point for the necropsy by Alaska Sealife Center scientists to try to determine the cause of death. Though she was all carved up for the procedure, she was still an awe-inspiring sight. There are many on-line news stories about this tragic event.

 

Despite the crowds lined up along the road, a nonchalant WANDERING TATTLER strolled along the shoreline, foraging for amphipods and other invertebrates.

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter