Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 8:50 am, sunrise 6:27 pm for a total day length of 9 hours and 47 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 21 seconds shorter.
Brisk, sunny day with overnight lows hovering around freezing, rising to 41º by 4 pm, north wind 12 to 18 mph. More sunshine in the forecast until Friday brings rain/snow mix.
At 10 am on the increasingly later morning walk, I spotted several ROBINS enjoying breakfast in a scraggly Mt Ash in the 500-block alley between Third and Second. Suddenly a smaller bird landed among them. Luckily, I was able to get my binocs on it as it chowed down on the bright red berries: a juvenile CEDAR WAXWING!
The most recent Seward record was November 13, 2017, and before that September 11, 2013 with a few previous scattered sightings since 2005.
Sulli happened to be in town birding (of course). The bird was still there for him, and actually returned several times during the afternoon. What made this particular tree so very special among a vast number of other, much more bountiful Mt Ashes? By late afternoon, it was almost picked clean.
After that excitement, we walked around the neighborhood. In the elderberry thicket on the mountainside on First Avenue, a bright WILSON’S WARBLER popped up, about the same hue as the cottonwood leaves. This midget from the tropics needs to get going south!
Shortly after 1 pm, the tsunami siren went off followed by a cancelation by text and subsequent repeated siren. Garbled verbal attempts to communicate over the siren system were not helpful. Then it was canceled again by text at 1:45 pm. What a failed warning system! We learned later the 7.5 earthquake occurred right off Sand Point in the Aleutians and no tsunami was generated.
However, the fantastic consequence was that Sulli did not venture down Lowell Road and instead wandered over to AVTEC on Second Ave. Around 2:43 pm he found and photographed a WARBLING VIREO in the brush next to the little salmon stream running along the road. Other local birders rushed over, but try as we might, we failed to refind this lost bird.
Around 5 pm, Robin C texted that a female HOODED MERGANSER was feeding in the small pond on the west side at Mile 3 Seward Highway. I ended an amazing birdy day with a glimpse of her before she flew off; hopefully she’ll be around this fall and winter.
However elusive, there’s a good chance the Warbling Vireo is still around, as was the Western Tanager still hanging around in Clearview. Not to be greedy, but there may indeed be other birds of great interest waiting to be discovered. Can’t wait for the sun to warm things up tomorrow!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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