Sunday, January 3, 2021 New Year’s wonder and joy

 Seward, Alaska

What a pleasure to bird and photograph in the New Year’s bright sunshine for the first two days! Everything glowed under its spotlight, made even more special by the warm, low angle. Huge flat snow crystals delicately perched like glittering ice butterflies, coating arched beach rye grass stalks and every surface of bowing alders. 

 

Yesterday, the sun peeked above the eastern mountains and chased the shadows down the western mountains and across the flats as it rose. I was thrilled to watch two DUNLINS feed voraciously in a freshwater stream in the tidelands as the sunlight finally reached them at 10:50 am. For a good three seconds, one stopped feeding while a waterdrop grew at the tip of its long, droopy bill, as if to acknowledge the wonder of the dawn. Then it resumed its rapid stitching in the sand.

 

As the sun sank behind Bear Mountain to the west at 4 pm and shadows crept up Mt Alice to the east, Alpenglow tinged her snowy cape pink. A magnificent RAVEN atop a street light bid farewell to the day in his secret, ancient tongue, his shaggy throat feathers puffed out and horns erect.

 

The starry sky, with a lopsided moon rising over the jagged silhouette of Mt Alice as Mars drifted to the west, bookended Seward’s clear skies for a long while.

 

Yet, even in today’s snow flurries and sn’rain, the SIBERIAN ACCENTOR, BRAMBLING, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, HOODED MERGANSER, and other unusual and expected species brightened the day for me and many visiting birders.

 

This afternoon I enjoyed the simple pleasure of watching COMMON MERGANSERS and Gulls bathe exuberantly close to shore. Water sprayed everywhere as the Mergansers rocked side to side, rose up, and shook off. The Gulls were more demure, dipping their heads underwater to let the water flow down their backs, then tipped over sideways to preen the belly and legs. Must have felt mighty fine!

 

I identified the HERRING GULL by its pale yellow iris and black on the primaries, and the GLAUCOUS-WINGED X HERRING GULL hybrid by its dark iris with a touch of black in its primaries, but both may be hybrids. No doubt Gulls will continue to be a fun and frustrating challenge in 2021, all part of the wonder and joy of birds.

 

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter