Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 9:31 am, sunset 4:04 pm for a total daylight of 6 hours and 33 minutes. Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 28 minutes shorter.
Sparkling sunshine today after seemingly endless cloudy, rainy days. The tradeoff was a dip in temperature from the recent slew of 40s to a chilly low of 17 and a high of 29. Snow is briefly in the forecast then rain as the temp rises back to the 40s.
Seward birder John Maniscalco discovered a rare juvenile PIED-BILLED GREBE yesterday afternoon in the Seward Boat Harbor. I drove all of five minutes to the harbor to seek it out this morning. Yesterday, it was warm; last night the “ice-free” harbor froze with only a few open areas, which limited the little Grebe’s range, if it was still around.
I spent several thoroughly enjoyable hours walking up and down the floats looking for open water and birds. En route, I watched the spectacular half-moon setting behind the stunning snowy mountains, watched an enormous US Air Force jet blast overhead (probably left Anchorage ten minutes ago), admired the sleeping boats, and checked out bird-free reflections in the few open areas.
There weren’t many birds. Five MEW GULLS flew overhead, a small flock of BARROW’S GOLDENEYES paddled serenely by Icicle Seafoods, a male BELTED KINGFISHER perched on the dock and rattled over the thin ice looking for open areas to fish.
Running out of open water areas, I decided to check the other side of the harbor by the big tugs and Z Float. As I drove up, I saw 5 BARROW’S GOLDENEYES, and nearby, the unmistakable silhouette of the PIED-BILLED GREBE. YAY! I took some bad photos with the sun almost directly behind it, then parked and tried to sneak down the walkway to get a slightly better angle. I was relieved to see that the juvenile Grebe was wary, and began paddling away when it saw me. I stopped, and it came back.
Rare birds are vulnerable; usually alone, in a strange place, with no buddies to help them identify and track danger, find food and shelter. I didn’t linger and slowly backed away to leave it in peace.
Pied-billed Grebes are noted as residents and short-distance migrants that should be wintering/residing down the Pacific Coast from Vancouver south, and across the southern half of the US and into northern Central America. It’s quite a mystery how this bird ended up in the Seward Boat Harbor at the end of November. Maybe it’s the same bird as reported in Homer last month. Who knows?
Meanwhile, it was a pleasure seeking this bird today, and a delight to find it.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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