Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 9 am, sunset 6:22 pm
for a total day length of 9 hours and 22 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes
and 19 seconds shorter.
Rain and more rain, in spurts
and squalls and downpours. High of 45ยบ, calm. More clouds and rain in the forecast
until Thursday.
In between the rains, I got
out for a little birding this afternoon, stopping first along Waterfront Park.
Highlights included about 10 FORK-TAILED STORM PETRELS sweeping over the flat
bay, several COMMON MERGANSERS, PELAGIC CORMORANTS, and HARLEQUINS feeding
close to shore.
NW CROWS flew their vertical
loops as they pried mollusks such as blue mussels and chitons from the
intertidal rocks, flew up to drop them, and hurtled down to eat them before
another crow snatched the morsel.
I found a neat little Crow pellet
deposited on the railing of the Scheffler Creek Bridge. It resembled a small
spruce cone at a glance, but a closer look revealed bits of those blue mussel
and chiton shells mixed with seaweed and other inedibles.
Two dark SONG SPARROWS called
out from the streamside where they explored the rocks.
An interesting trio of large
gulls staked out their spot near the beach. The first gull, a HERRING GULL, had
black primaries with white spots on the tips. The third gull, a GLAUCOUS-WINGED
GULL had a uniform pale gray mantle and primaries. And standing in between with
its intermediate characteristics, was a HERRING GULL X GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL
hybrid with dark gray primaries with white spots on the tips. The light wasn’t
great, but the Glaucous-winged Gull eyes looked darker, not bright yellow like
the other two.
Over at the Lagoon, a dozen
MALLARDS squabbled and squawked in the salmon stream outlet, feasting on eggs. If this
species were less common, I think we’d appreciate it more. The drake is indeed,
a very handsome duck!
A few aging salmon dashed
past, but I could not determine if they were Reds or Silvers. This late in the
season, Silvers are more likely. I hope to get a better view on a drier day.
Back home, RED-BREASTED
NUTHATCHES, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES, and a BROWN CREEPER swept through the
front yard, calling excitedly, perhaps also glad for the reprieve from those
heavy raindrops.
The beauty of birding is that
the birds don’t have to be rare or extraordinary to be interesting and appreciated.
They simply are.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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