Sunday, February 15, 2026 Squalls, ASLC, Swans, Robins

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 8:37 am, sunset 5:49 pm, for a total day length of 9 hours and 11 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 22 seconds longer.

 

Snow/sleet/rain/wind created challenging conditions this week, followed by a few beautiful sunny days featuring more normal winter temperatures in the 20s. Colder and windier in the forecast.

 

BALD EAGLES and RAVENS are courting and pairing up, getting ready for spring with great fanfare. On Valentine’s Day I saw two Ravens preening each other on a romantic street light, forming a heart shape. Unfortunately, I was driving, so no photo except in my memory.

 

The Alaska Sealife Center provided the bird sustenance I needed mid-week. Hard to beat watching and listening to the two outrageously colorful KING EIDER drakes within touching distance, puffing up and cooing, “Ah-oooo,” more like a dove than a duck. A very interested King Eider hen followed them around clucking and chasing. 

 

The gorgeous SPECTACLED EIDER drake didn’t have to say anything to attract his mate; he just looked elegant as he paddled around the habitat with her close behind. The other birds dimmed by comparison but did their best to impress. There’s always something interesting going on at the ASLC!

 

Thursday evening around 11 pm, a SAW-WHET OWL briefly piped up from Little Bear Mountain. Glad to know he’s still around.

 

Today, I was again fortunate to photograph a pair of TRUMPETER SWANS, flying in tandem. I also found three ROBINS scrabbling up frozen and withered Mt Ash berries on exposed grass. The flock of 40 has either greatly diminished or dispersed after the snow buried the berries. Plucky birds!

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

Sunday, February 8, 2026 Swans and sunshine between the rain

Seward, Alaska

 

Sunrise 8:55 am, sunset 5:30 pm for a total day length of 8 hours and 34 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 14 seconds longer.

 

With temps in the mid-30s, cloudy, and calm this past week, it felt more like April with the accompanying showers, not February.  The mild weather even fooled some beach rye grass, optimistically poking bright green spears from last year’s bedraggled remains. Forecasted snow showers with temps dipping below freezing overnight may convince others to wait.

 

Friday, however, broke the pattern by delivering sunshine and blue skies, welcomed like long-lost friends. The surrounding snow-covered mountains were spectacular! I did not discover any new arrivals, but rejoiced at seeing the usual overwintering species.

 

Seven magnificent adult TRUMPETER SWANS chose to wing their way towards me, honking softly, and splashed down like water skiers in an intertidal stream. They certainly noticed me, but after a few moments, settled down to stretch, preen, and nap in the sun.

 

A mixed flock of MALLARDS, AMERICAN WIGEON, and GADWALL grazed companionably in the sedges of the estuary. Other than a couple BALD EAGLES and RAVENS cruising overhead, it was pretty quiet.

 

HORNED GREBES, SURF SCOTERS, one WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, PELAGIC CORMORANTS, and a COMMON LOON paddled and dove south of the harbor uplands with two Sea Otters.  

A Harbor Seal tranquilly floated in the harbor, nostrils flaring to breathe in and sealed shut to dive. COMMON MERGANSERS, and a few Goldeneyes joined more Horned Grebes in the boat basin. I did not find the Yellow-billed Loon.

 

I checked out Lowell Point Beach and found a nice raft of handsome RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS paddling close to shore, diving in synchrony after small fish. Unfortunately, they were very wary and soon paddled farther away.  

 

Several SHORT-BILLED GULLS braved my presence and continued to forage. A few MARBLED MURRELETS dove with PELAGIC CORMORANTS farther out. 

 

A raft of BARROW’S GOLDENEYES mixed with a few COMMON GOLDENEYES staked out Pinnacle Rock and its intertidal treats.

 

In the Lowell Point sewage lagoon, MALLARDS and Goldeneyes rested on remnant ice while others paddled furiously against the bubbling currents. It looked like whitewater rapids as they swam in the foam, plucking who-knows-what out of the roiling water. Yum?

 

The clouds returned for the weekend. Today in the fog, I refound the flock of about 35 ROCK SANDPIPERS, and heard the cheerful song of a DIPPER, happy no matter what the weather.

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter 

Sunday, February 1, 2026 Wigeon, Gadwall, Swans, Loons

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 9:13 am, sunset 5:12 pm for a total day length of 7 hours and 58 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 1 second longer.

 

Civil twilight rise 8:25 am, set 5:59 pm. Even with dark clouds, the increased day length is finally noticeable and increasing by 5 minutes and more every day!

 

Rain on Tuesday quickly reduced our 6” of new snow to slush followed by unseasonably mild temperatures in the 30s with calm winds and showers. 

Last night however, the sky cleared revealing an almost full moon sailing high against a backdrop of stars including Orion and his faithful dog Sirius. Alas, the hope of a little sunshine today did not materialize. More rain and snow showers are in the forecast for this week.

 

The SNOW BUNTINGS are still around, though I only saw about 20 in the distance today. As the high tide ebbed, 36 ROCK SANDPIPERS chattered excitedly as they probed and prodded the mudflats for Baltic Macoma clams, amphipods, and other marine invertebrates. 

 

As noted in the December 16, 2016 blog entry, the Rock Sandpiper flock consisted of very light gray Pribilof Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis ssp ptilocnemis) and two darker subspecies that may be the Aleutian Rock Sandpiper (ssp couesi), and/or the intermediate, tschukschorum. These subspecies are quite complicated, variable, and are still under review, according to Luke DeCicco.

 

Five snow-drift white adult TRUMPETER SWANS fed in the intertidal streams and tidal flats. Robin C reported about 30 Swans at the Trail Lake outflow in Moose Pass recently; maybe that is where “our” Swans are now overwintering.

 

In addition to MALLARDS, 8 AMERICAN WIGEON fed on the remains of the intertidal island sedges, and at least one GADWALL dabbled in the puddles. 

 

Over at Fourth of July Beach, I found a COMMON LOON near and a YELLOW-BILLED LOON in the distance. Six HARLEQUIN DUCKS paddled along closer to shore.

 

Spring Creek Beach yielded a single LONG-TAILED DUCK, and the Harbor Uplands offered a raft of about 14 SURF SCOTERS. It was great to see the variety of waterfowl, even if in low numbers.

 

An AMERICAN CROW took an ice-cold bath in a large pothole, apparently enjoying it until a more dominant Crow strutted over to take possession of the prized bathtub. As if there were only one! 

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter