Seward, Alaska
Saturday evening I rushed out
to the head of the bay in response to a hot tip about SANDHILL CRANES.
Apparently the storm had forced them down for the night. When I found them, the
majority were busily feeding while a few stood guard, watching vigilantly for
any sign of trouble. There was none, so I enjoyed the scene and quietly moved
on.
These are the first Cranes
I’ve seen in Seward this year. Other lucky people reported a 1000 cranes flying
overhead on Monday and hundreds on Saturday. I’m always sorry to miss that
grand sight and sound.
Today, I went back to see if
they were still here. But the storm had passed and the Cranes took advantage of
the calm, partly cloudy conditions to move on.
A MERLIN flashed overhead and
landed on a driftwood log. SAVANNAH SPARROWS scattered ahead of me, and two
chunky birds, Snipe? Dowitchers? flew up and back down into the sedges too
quick to identify.
Five regal TRUMPETER SWANS
floated serenely in the pond, two adults and three cygnets. They must be the
resident Nash Road family, out to see the neighborhood. I had heard the cygnets
were flying, but this was the first time I’d seen evidence.
I glimpsed three more adults
through the vegetation surrounding a small pond a short distance away. I
wondered if they were Daddy’s Girl and her parents. If so, that could make her
a sibling of one of the new parents, and her parents the grandparents of the
cygnets. Maybe. I also wondered if these eight swans would be tolerant now that
the nesting season was over, and share the larger pond.
I didn’t have to wonder for
long. I heard the cygnet parents trumpeting softly, calling back and forth.
Hmmm. Something was up. I kept walking down the beach, out of sight to minimize
any disturbance. After about 10 minutes, I saw in the distance, all five adult
swans flying low over the bay. I think the cygnet parents headed straight for
the threesome and chased them off their little pond and into the air.
One adult managed to catch up
to another fleeing swan and nailed it in the rump. That must have hurt! Then they
all landed, but not for long. With a great deal of trumpeting and loud
splashing as their giant webbed feet struck the surface of the water, their
powerful wings pumping, the chase was on! Back and forth! I couldn’t keep track
of who was who or which was which. It was so exciting!
Finally, the threesome
separated out and landed at what must have been an acceptable distance. The two
victorious adults, still trumpeting loudly, approached each other and all but
high-fived. They were so pumped! After congratulating each other, they decided
to return to the big pond. Off they flew, right past the enemy Swans to the
pond and landed.
Honking loudly, they called
to the cygnets that had flown to the bay without my noticing. The 3 ½ month old
cygnets took off and began to circle back to their parents. But when I looked
back, the parents had also taken off, and had returned to attack the threesome
again. It was a repeat performance! I couldn’t believe it!
The parents drove the
threesome off while the cygnets circled around, uncertain of what to do.
Finally, they landed out front in the bay, about where they had been before.
This time, the parents, after they finished high-fiving, flew over to join
their babies, still trumpeting in excitement. They landed and regrouped, then
suddenly the whole family took off, heading for the Nash Road wetlands.
As they flew away down the
bay, I saw two MORE adult Swans swim out from the creek. I have no idea who
they are or where they came from. Ten Swans! What a busy place!
I was sorry my time here had run out. As I left, Daddy’s Girl and her parents floated serenely on the bay,
perhaps wondering what the heck just happened. But knowing how fiercely
protective these incredible parents have been for the past four generations, I
was not surprised. Good job, mom and dad!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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