Yakutat, Alaska
Noon to 1: Harvest and Use of
Wild Resources in Yakutat during 2015 presented by Lauren Sill and Barbara
Cellarius. Subsistence is a very important source of food locally. I appreciate
all the tern festival volunteers who postponed their sockeye salmon harvest for
us.
1:00 pm: Strings and Stories
with featured artists Linda Rosenthal, famed violinist, and Bill Blush, actor.
Cute kid-oriented, and kid-involved stories and poems enhanced by Linda’s
magical violin, made in 1772 in Italy.
2 pm to 4 pm: Town/Monti Bay
Field Trip with ecologist and author Mary Willson. This easy trip by van and
foot visited nearby Sandy Beach near the seafood processing plant, the old cold
storage dock, the rocky beach and reef at Monti Bay, and the Totem Trail.
New species included: PIGEON
GUILLEMOT, PARASITIC JAEGER harassing the gulls, CORMORANTS (too far to ID).
Several CASPIAN TERNS fished in the bay, providing good views. One followed a
fishing boat as it headed to the harbor, Mt St Elias looming in the background.
Everyone heard and saw the
famed ALEUTIAN TERNS, and the ARCTIC TERNS. A Harbor Porpoise quietly surfaced
for air and dove like a little dark wheel rolling along.
On shore, WILSON’S WARBLERS,
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, HERMIT THRUSHES, ROBINS, FOX SPARROWS.
On the Totem Trail, Mary
Willson showed us Domatia, tiny homes for tinier mites provided by alder
leaves. It is thought the mites aid the alder by attacking fungi invading the
leaves. Mary pointed out nursery logs and checked out some old (cold) brown
bear scat. We saw where the bear had trampled through some skunk cabbage as it
dined. I spotted an unusual lichen that looks like a small, whitish mushroom:
Lichenomphalia, growing on one of the nurse logs.
A hummingbird flashed past,
too quick to ID, but likely a Rufous. YELLOW WARBLERS sang from the willows. Another
CASPIAN TERN fished the Lagoon, as well as BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES. And it goes
without saying, the BALD EAGLE was preprinted on my bird list.
I returned to Sandy Beach
around 4:30 pm to watch an Eagle show. The seafood processing plant grinds up
its fish waste just like in Seward, and provides food for lots of birds. At
least a dozen adult Eagles were lined up at the beach tideline, looking like
combat fishermen. They peered at the wrack at their feet, nabbing tidbits from
the vegetation.
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS with a few HERRING GULLS clustered
nervously on either side. From time to time, an Eagle would lift up and fly
right at them, scattering the shrieking gulls. Must be fun to cause such
mayhem!
Juvenile BALD EAGLES stood
deferentially up the beach, clustered around a sea otter carcass,
unsure of how to eat it. An adult Eagle, noticing the potential food, stalked
up to investigate, scattering the juvies. It pecked away at the head area, but
didn’t seem all that interested other than proving dominance.
It was fun to watch the
Eagles of all ages, gracefully sail down from the nearby spruce trees, long
legs outstretched, to land near or on other Eagles, depending on their
dominance.
ALEUTIAN TERNS flew over the
bay, diving right in front of the cannery dock. Nice! A single EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE flew past, not so nice considering it's an invasive species, but interesting to see. Too bad nobody is eating these doves; I understand they are very tasty.
Soon it was time to head over
to the 6 pm Opening Remarks and Fundraiser Dinner at the ANB Hall (Alaska
Native Brotherhood). I walked past two really nice murals painted on sheds, one
of two China Rockfish, the other of the Giant Pacific Octopus.
While the diners feasted on a
delicious halibut dinner, Don Lyons gave a talk on the amazing terns, punctuated
with tern puns from “The Book of Terns,” by Peter Delacorte and Michael Witte. Whereas
Arctic Tern numbers range over 100,000, Aleutian terns numbers range from 5-6,000.
Aleutian Tern numbers are holding steady in Yakutat, but declining elsewhere.
Yakutat has the largest concentration of nesting Aleutian Terns in the world.
Russia, the only other location where they nest, has a large number of breeding
terns. Scientists are studying and tagging these terns to learn more about
their foraging habits, predators, and migration.
Then the highlight of the
weekend: the famous Mt. St. Elias Dancers. Wow! From youngsters just learning
to seasoned performers, they all gave sterling performances, wearing stunning and treasured regalia. What a treat and a lovely ending to a wonderful day.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Traveling Seward Sporadic
Bird Report Reporter
No comments:
Post a Comment