Seward,
Alaska
The
clouds thinned and by early afternoon the sun snuck through and dominated the surreal
blue sky. It was hard to believe how dark, gloomy, and wet the morning had
been! The sunny afternoon seemed to normalize the flooding, or at least made it
seem less damaging. How could there be any problems on such a beautiful day?
A
fishing boat puttered out of the boat harbor on calm Resurrection Bay heading
for the fishing grounds. One of the last tour boats sailed forth with expectant
and appreciative guests. Mt Alice peeked through remnant clouds, white with
snow down to 3700’.
Meanwhile,
Seward Public Works continued to furiously excavate gravel from the cauldron at
the base of the waterfall to save Lowell Point Road bridge. Two enormous
mountains of gravel rose beside the road, waiting to be hauled off. The tide
was too high for any bulldozer work in the creek itself. The road remained open
intermittently to accommodate the excavators; vehicles got a free car wash
passing through the waterfall spray.
I
checked out the Seward Airport. The Resurrection River continued to pour across
the main runway leaving uprooted trees stranded in the middle. The heavily
compromised runway will not be open for a while, and then likely not for
heavier aircraft.
I
drove up Resurrection River Valley on Exit Glacier Road, following the flooding
café au lait river upstream to the bridge at Kenai Fjords National Park. The
pattern of the boiling water under the bridge looked like smoke curls or mist
swirls. The silty river banks were completely gone or buried underwater. None
of the tributary creeks ran clear; all bore a heavy load of silt, heading to
Resurrection Bay.
On
this merry rampage, the river grabbed trees like a looter to toss into the bay
for navigation obstacles and eventual beach furniture. The collective power of
raindrops!
As
for birds, I did not see the usual Bald Eagles, Ravens, or Kingfisher at Exit
Glacier. Aside from a chipper BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE feeding in the alders, it
was very quiet bird-wise.
Hope
to find more birds tomorrow.
Happy
Birding!
Carol
Griswold
Seward
Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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