Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 6:14 am, sunset 9:39 pm for a total day length of 15 hours and 25 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 20 seconds longer.
Crusty old snow in town is melting fast with temps in the low 50s. The Lagoon is completely ice-free, but small lakes are resisting with night-time lows still around freezing. Many feet of snow remain just outside of town. Sunny skies in the forecast until mid-week.
Spring erupted this week with a quick and exciting succession of First Of Season (FOS) sightings.
Monday, April 19: ROBINS and a FOS RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET singing on morning walk. Kinglet numbers swelled this week; I had four in my side yard by Thursday, flitting/falling through willow branches. First mosquito! SANDHILL CRANES, first seen on April 15, continue to fly high over town and along the eastern flanks of the mountains. Few have landed due to the fine flying weather.
Tuesday, April 20: FOS 2 HERMIT THRUSHES hopped over the snow at Two Lakes Park, rummaging in the recently thawed exposed duff. Daily, more VARIED THRUSHES sing from their hiding places in the spruce trees. I noted one of the first singing at First Lake. March 29. I heard my FOS SWALLOW overhead but could not tell which species.
Wednesday, April 21: Chilly south wind. Heard a COMMON LOON calling as it flew overhead heading north! Many more ROBINS, scolding and singing from early morning to late at night. Big flock of about 150 Sandhill Cranes flying over around 6:30 pm.
Thursday, April 22: Happy Earth Day! PACIFIC WREN sang his long, complex song in the mountainside forest. FOS RING-NECKED DUCK drake on the north side of the Lagoon. First a male, then a female BUFFLEHEAD flew low over his head, perceived aggressive behavior surprising for such a diminutive duck. Maybe they felt territorial against this handsome newcomer. He didn’t react and continued diving and fishing all by himself.
A dozen COMMON MERGANSERS preened and sunned on the shore. Some will nest at the Lagoon. A few COMMON GOLDENEYES fished nearby. On the south side of the Lagoon, the continuing female HOODED MERGANSER struggled with a feisty stickleback, finally getting the spiny little fish down.
Sticklebacks are anadromous, migrating to the ocean in the fall and returning to fresh water in the spring to nest and raise their babies. They are an important food source for these divers and the Arctic Terns.
The Lagoon is mostly open as the remaining ice melts at last. The Nash Road wetlands, however, is mostly frozen, but a pair of TRUMPETER SWANS have claimed it for their nesting site. They feed and preen by the growing opening by the road and another at the back, waiting for the ice to melt so they can start building their nest.
A female FOS CANVASBACK blended in with the NORTHERN PINTAILS and NORTHERN SHOVELERS at the tidelands pond. I only saw her dabble like her neighbors; surprising for such a superb diver. More GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE and a few more CANADA GEESE arrived.
Friday, April 23, 2021: Herring eggs! A sure sign of spring! The perfect glowing spheres covered seaweed wrack along the tideline at Fourth of July Beach. The sea ducks and gulls went nuts with excitement! At least 70 HARLEQUIN DUCKS, the most I’ve seen all year, dove just offshore. The males courted/harassed females in between dives. Such handsome drakes! Several rafts of BARROW’S GOLDENEYES dove in the creek mouth and near shore. AMERICAN CROWS feasted on the washed up eggs on the shore. I watched one gather dried grass in its bill for nesting material and haul it off.
SURF SCOTERS, about 40, paddled in their characteristic orderly lines just beyond the Harlequins. I spotted a young male with a brightening bill, black head, with just a hint of the white skunk stripe on the back of his head. A pair of regal BALD EAGLES quietly watched the ducks but with suspicious interest from the handy cell tower.
GREATER YELLOWLEGS numbers continue to increase at the wetlands. I spotted a FOS LESSER YELLOWLEGS feeding nearby, providing a nice size and bill comparison. The Greater Yellowlegs struggled to swallow a small fish, its eyes bulging like a frog as he swallowed, a large lump in his throat marked the passage. A WILSON'S SNIPE called. A flock of a dozen GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE flew in to join the earlier migrants. More ARCTIC TERNS have arrived including residents staking out their territories among the strident MEW GULLS. A male NORTHERN HARRIER, possibly the same bird observed last week, looped around the fields.
FOS DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT spotted at the B Street dock pilings.
Saturday, April 24, 2021: Heard a male ROBIN singing in the wee hour of 4 am when stars were still faintly visible!
This afternoon, a male KINGFISHER rattled mid-flight at the Lagoon then perched on the power line to survey the fishing options. A few yards away, a small bird quietly rested on the wire. A closer look verified a sweet male VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW.
Several large avalanches rumbled down the south flank of Mt Marathon this week, dumping some more snow into the Racer’s Chute and a massive amount in the second avalanche chute up the canyon. Above the large bare patch left behind, a smaller bare patch that remarkably resembled the shape of the state of Alaska, complete with the Aleutian Island chain, the Seward Peninsula, Barrow, and the Panhandle. More cracks may result in another dramatic slide and more changes in this dynamic landscape.
Happy Birding!
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
Carol Griswold
