Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 9:45 am, sunset 4:30
pm for a total daylight of 6 hours and 45 minutes. Tomorrow will be 3 minutes
and 58 seconds longer.
Inky-blue clouds settled back
into their comfortable couch over town this morning anticipating a
long visit. The chilly north wind exerted its presence with temps at 28º. Recently
open pond and lakes refroze except for a few small openings. Despite the sparse snow cover, it felt
like winter once again.
Walking along the beach after
completing the mid-month COASST survey, (no new dead Murres), I heard soft
trumpeting, looked up, and wow! The stunning TRUMPETER SWAN family of six flew
low, right overhead in a spectacular formation! I watched in amazement and joy
as they powerfully stroked straight for the Lagoon. Where have they been? How
do they survive the bleak, long winter?
I hustled over to the Lagoon,
and sure enough, there they were, feeding purposefully but without haste, on
the open north end. Heads up, look around, heads down, reach for deep
vegetation. The four cygnets are as big as their parents now. Their bills are
almost entirely black with a bit of pink remaining in the middle. Their necks
are still dusky gray, but half of their wings and most of their bodies are white. They
all looked healthy and competent.
A contingent of opportunistic
MALLARDS and COMMON GOLDENEYES scurried over to grab any scraps. The HOODED
MERGANSER was not seen today, but was reported here yesterday.
A DIPPER sang its cheerful,
bubbling song in the culvert under the road, magnified by the great acoustics.
I wonder if it seeks the added value of singing in a culvert, as we do singing in the shower?
Over at the harbor, brave
jumpers were getting ready to plunge into the cold water. A male BELTED
KINGFISHER did the same, without any pledges or concerns beyond scoring a small
fish for lunch.
Hours after the jump ended,
at 4 pm, the temperature rose to 39º and it started raining lightly. The forecast is for similar warm temperatures and rain mixed with snow for the next several days. Keep those feeders full during these dark, wet days.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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