Seward, Alaska
Around 10 am I briefly heard the steady and hopeful “beep-beep-beep” of a SAW-WHET OWL calling from the forested mountainside. Seems his alarm clock went off 12 hours too soon!
Later, as I watched six ARCTIC TERNS fishing, one plunged into the bay and rose up with a frightened fish wrapped around its bill in tight coils. The Tern took it for a free flightsee and as the fish suffocated, it relaxed and straightened out. I identified it just before the Tern tossed the long, skinny sand lance down the hatch. It’s always interesting to see what’s for lunch!
A bit farther out, five GREATER SCAUP lounged about in the calm water amid a dozen HORNED GREBES. Two of the Grebes had already molted into their dazzling breeding plumage with golden eyebrows. Some of the others were caught changing, and the more modest still wore their winter plumage. It won’t be long before they all migrate to fresh water nesting sites.
A few more GREATER YELLOWLEGS have arrived to patrol the tide’s edge, crying out stridently, “tew, tew, tew!”
Big excitement today, watching a fully loaded barge slowly sink. The Conexes on the end looked dangerously close, even touching the water as the hours passed and the whole show drifted in the middle of the flat calm bay with a tugboat on either side. Eventually, the tugs wisely delivered the lot to the port dock and all the disappointed spectators went home. Nothing like an impending disaster to bring out the crowds!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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