ANOTHER UPDATE:
Add a FOX SPARROW to Count Week for a total of 68 species overall.
UPDATE:
A NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL squeaked into Count Day (night) making the Count Day total 56. Count Week species is 11 for a total of 67 species, one less than last year.
Seward, Alaska
Add a FOX SPARROW to Count Week for a total of 68 species overall.
UPDATE:
A NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL squeaked into Count Day (night) making the Count Day total 56. Count Week species is 11 for a total of 67 species, one less than last year.
Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 10:00 am, sunset 3:50 pm, for a total daylight of 5
hours and 50 minutes. Tomorrow will be exactly the same, 0 minutes and 0
seconds shorter as the Earth shifts gears. The Winter Solstice begins at 1:44
am Wednesday, as does the official first day of winter.
Yesterday, the weather played the drama queen card, waltzing
from one dark snow squall to the next, pelting the town with graupel. That
entertaining little tantrum played out by evening.
Later, skate skiers left their rhythmic tracks all around
town in the fresh snow on unplowed streets. Orion spanned the southern sky, as his
faithful, sparkling, dog Sirius rose over the eastern mountains. I listened hard
but unsuccessfully for owls while soaking up the peace and beauty of the night.
It was hard to go inside even as midnight approached.
Today, the last day of the CBC Count Week, remained benign,
mostly sunny, and calm with temps ranging from 19 to 28ยบ. I headed out to the
tidelands, searching for one last species. There at tide’s edge, past about 100
NORTHWESTERN CROWS busily feeding in the mudflats, were three small shorebirds.
DUNLINS! I eased forward. The Crows did not mind at all. I got as close as
needed for documentary photos of the long drooping bill and drab brownish
plumage, then turned back, past the cordial Crows. Yay!
The next bird of interest was an AMERICAN PIPIT, round as a
ball, picking through the beach rocks. This species is uncommon in the winter
in Seward. Though it was counted on Saturday, it was still nice to
document.
Back at the parking lot, a VARIED THRUSH perched at the tip
of a spruce tree. It trilled briefly, then jetted off, bright orange and black
against the pale blue sky.
I headed to Ava’s Place to see the celebrity mite. After
watching the PINE GROSBEAKS flow back and forth, rattled by an unseen predator,
I heard the ticking. There he was, the ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD, at ease as
usual. He sat on a Mayday twig for a while, checked out the feeders for a
snack, then disappeared over the roof in a blur to monitor the back yard.
With the addition of the DUNLIN, and a report of a GREAT
HORNED OWL heard on Friday night, the Seward CBC Count Week total is 11. The
Count Day total is 56, for a total species count of 67. The 2015 Count had 66
species plus two for Count Week for a total of 68, though the species varied a
bit. It’s always interesting to see who is here!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
2
Auklet,
Crested
7
Blackbird,
Rusty
116 Bufflehead
30 Chickadee,
Black-capped
CW Chickadee, Boreal
51 Chickadee, Chestnut-backed
65 Cormorant, Pelagic
4 Creeper, Brown
CW Crossbill, White-winged
129 Crow, Northwestern
5 Dipper, American
65 Duck, Harlequin
2 Duck, Long-tailed
CW Dunlin
50 Eagle, Bald
1 Falcon, unknown species
CW
Gadwall
336 Goldeneye, Barrow’s
98 Goldeneye, Common
75 Grebe, Horned
6 Grebe, Red-necked
249 Grosbeak, Pine
1 Guillemot, Pigeon
1
Gull, Glaucous-winged X Herring hybrid
(not a species)
176 Gull, Glaucous-winged
9 Gull, Herring
55 Gull, Mew
4 Heron, Great Blue
2 Hummingbird, Anna’s
38 Jay, Steller’s
81 Junco, Dark-eyed (Slate-colored)
12 Kingfisher, Belted
23 Kinglet, Golden-crowned
15 Loon, Common
6 Loon, Pacific
36 Magpie, Black-billed
117 Mallard
48 Merganser, Common
CW Merganser, Hooded
48 Merganser, Red-breasted
99 Murrelet, Marbled
25 Nuthatch, Red-breasted
CW Owl, Great-Horned
1 Owl, Northern Saw-whet
98 Pigeon, Rock
1 Pipit, American
15 Ptarmigan, Rock
57 Raven, Common
48 Robin, American
CW
Sandpiper, Rock
CW Sapsucker, Red-breasted
2 Scaup, Greater
65 Scoter, Surf
1 Scoter, White-winged
1 Shrike, Northern
1 Siskin, Pine
2 Sparrow, American Tree
2 Sparrow, Golden-crowned
6 Sparrow, Song
8 Sparrow, White-crowned
2 Sparrow, White-throated
CW Swan, Trumpeter
CW Teal, Green-winged
14 Thrush, Varied
CW Waxwing, Bohemian
6 Woodpecker, Downy
3 Woodpecker, Hairy
1 Wren, Pacific
Total individuals: 2447
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