Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 6:21 am,
sunset 9:32 pm, for a total day light of 15 hours and 10 minutes. Tomorrow will
be 5 minutes and 23 seconds longer.
Overnight lows
are still swinging below freezing; daytime highs reach into the mid to high
40s. It’s a slow breakup, which is appreciated to avoid flooding.
After a cold, dry
winter with concrete-hard snow cover, area-wide spruce trees are so dry their
needles litter the ground. Shake one for a shower of needles like a neglected
Christmas tree. I started watering my trees yesterday, ironically climbing over
a snow pile to reach the faucet. Clouds moved in this morning with a chance of
rain in the forecast that will help break the drought.
On April 15, Ava
reported 5 RED CROSSBILLS at her place. She never took down her hummingbird
feeders, but I put mine out again in case the Rufous Hummers are a bit early.
On April 19, I
found four dainty BONAPARTE’S GULLS feeding with the much larger MEW GULLS at
the tideline. Tasha found the First of Year Bonaparte’s yesterday off Lowell
Point Road. GREATER YELLOWLEGS and a LESSER YELLOWLEGS also reported by Tasha,
and a single BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER that Sadie spotted yesterday evening seem to
be the only shorebirds thus far.
The recent bright
sunny weather enticed migrating geese and cranes to keep flying north. On April
19 around 5 pm, I heard but did not find a flock of SANDHILL CRANES flying high
overhead. It was so exciting to hear their joyous bugling but I was
disappointed not to see them. Later that evening at 8:15 pm, I heard another
flock and counted 76 jubilant Cranes in a broad bow, heading north.
On Thursday, Exit
Glacier Road aka Herman Leirer Road, was opened to vehicles as far as the
Chugach National Forest gate. That evening, I decided to listen for the Western
Screech Owl at the 40 mph signs, 1.4 miles past the Box Canyon gate at the
junction of Old Exit Glacier Road.
Long after town
was in shadow, the sun shone brightly down the Resurrection River valley. The
surrounding snowy mountains and glaciers gleamed in the late sunshine. A
shaggy, lone Mountain Goat peacefully grazed on impossibly steep terrain.
Hidden VARIED THRUSHES sounded off from just about every tree. I also heard a
few RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, little but loud. The FOY was April 16, also along
Exit Glacier Road.
As the sun slowly
sank behind the mountains and twilight descended, the Thrushes gradually fell
silent. Large, slow, overwintered mosquitoes emerged and discovered my open car
window. All was quiet except for the distant shushing of recently thawed
mountain waterfalls.
At 10 pm, a
gabble of voices erupted overhead. I leapt from the car and fired off a few
images of 84 Geese in a ragged arc heading north. Quite the thrill!
I heard owls in
the distance and giving up on the Western Screech Owl site, headed to Seavey’s
Corner. A NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL steadfastly beeped in the distance, but that
was all. As I drove back down Exit Glacier Road I saw a large owl fly up into a
cottonwood tree next to the river.
I stopped and
glassed it with my binocs. Even in the dark, I could just barely make out its
ear tufts, a GREAT HORNED OWL! It sat on a branch, turning this way and that,
and likely unhappy about discovery, dropped off the branch, opened its large
wings, and disappeared into the night. A fine finale to an interesting and
beautiful evening!
The pair of
“intruder” TRUMPETER SWANS continues to stake out Nash Road, enjoying
vegetation found in ever-widening leads and openings as the ice melts. After a
10-day absence, I believe I saw the resident swan parents with “Daddy’s Girl”
cygnet today. The whereabouts of the other two cygnets is unknown. If the
parents wish to reclaim their Nash Road residence, there will be a terrific
battle for possession.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic
Bird Report Reporter
