Seward, Alaska
Curious about the ARCTIC
TERNS, I drove up to Tern Lake on this beautiful, sunny, warm, summer day. After
searching all over the lake, I finally found one far-away Tern flying high,
then one more. I heard one fledgling
begging, and spotted it sitting on a piece of driftwood in the middle of the
lake, hoping for fast food delivery. Eventually, I counted only four Terns
left, likely two adults and two fledglings. The rest of the group apparently
departed since I last checked on July 12.
Close to shore and the
parking lot, an amazing MALLARD family put on quite a show. Obviously, these
Mallards had not read the bird book describing them as “dabblers.” The whole
family of ¾ size duckling and the hen were actively and repeatedly diving,
remaining underwater for many long seconds. It was hard to count them as they
kept diving and popping up. Maybe 5 ducklings?
The hen Mallard fiercely
defended her family and territory from an AMERICAN WIGEON family of 8 trying to
swim past, chasing them off with her dabbling beak open. The much smaller
Wigeon, no slouch herself, returned the threat with her outstretched dabbling
beak, and eventually both families got where they were going without bloodshed.
On the east side of the lake,
LESSER SCAUP hens shared parenting with their combined families. The ducklings were
noticeably larger since last week, but still had fuzzy baby feathers. That
didn’t seem to stop them from diving, as per the bird book.
The COMMON LOON adult was
still sitting on the nest while the other parent guarded, dove, and fed. This
is very late indeed for incubation, if that was still happening. On such a warm
day, I can’t imagine a baby loon needing to be warmed in the nest by a parent.
Should be swimming and learning how to catch a fish, one would think.
In the distance, two
TRUMPETER SWANS suddenly paddled into sight, bright white, elegant birds, one
slightly larger than the other. They continued to paddle closer and closer, and
then paddled in front of the parking lot, full of RVs, trucks, cars, people,
and dogs. It was incredible! The paparazzi took lots of photos of this unusual
interaction.
I sat down on the bank to
watch and take photos too. The larger swan eventually swam away, but the smaller
swan stuck around. She gave me quite a long look, and suddenly I thought I knew
this bird. It was really eerie and simultaneously very, very cool.
I think they are the Seward
cygnets from two years ago. I’ve known her since the nest! That would explain
their apparent lack of fear of people. Mom and dad will not let them hang
around the ol’ homestead, so they are drifting about. Perhaps their first attempt to breed failed or they are waiting until next year to start their own families. Maybe...
My friend paddled slowly
away, and then abruptly put on a magnificent show as she chased off a young MEW
GULL that apparently was over the line. Giant angel wings beat the air, huge
webbed feet ran across the calm water creating mini-explosions, her neck
outstretched, the beak full of fury. The gull, young but not dumb, quickly got
the idea and took flight. The swan glided to a stop, and settled down. Then she
gracefully paddled after the other swan as if nothing had happened.
The Mallards returned to
dive. A muskrat swam past underwater, heading for the protection of the pond
plants. The loon paddled serenely near the nest and its mate. Vehicles zoomed
past, while others paused to let the weary travelers stretch their legs and
take a few photos of the surrounding scenery. And some were lucky to catch a
slice of the rhythm of life here, and be surprised, like me.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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