Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 4:58 am, sunset 10:54 pm for a total day length of 17 hours and 55 minutes. Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 54 seconds longer. Sunny days are here again! Yesterday, it was 70º!
Today was a bit cooler at 66º thanks to a brisk north wind at 15 mph that switched to a 12 mph south wind by mid-afternoon, bringing a dampish chill from the fog bank blocking the entrance to Resurrection Bay.
The forecast calls for increasing clouds, cooler temperatures, and then rain by Friday for a while. Rain is the color green, and we need it.
If you watched for a minute, you might see leaves steadily expanding as Seward turns green from the tops of the trees to the ground. Dandelions wasted no time; their cheerful and determined yellow flowers have popped up everywhere. They win.
This evening, as I surveyed my yard from a lawn chair, I noticed hungry queen bumblebees and other insects buzzing around the Sitka willow flowers. An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, and then a male HUMMINGBIRD probed the male flowers for pollen and tiny insects. The little jewel then buzzed over to sit in the sunshine on a thin branch, smacking his tiny pollen-dusted two-toned bill, gorget flaming when he turned his head just right.
This little rocket also likes to sit on the powerline along the alley behind my house, a tiny bump on the wire. When shade reached his spot, he zipped over a few yards to be back in the sun where he serenely scratched his jeweled neck feathers with his minute foot.
He is the only hummer I have seen recently since they arrived on May 5 and reliably attended my feeder in the first two weeks of May. I had two males and at least 3 females. Now they have access to other sources like the insects in willow flowers and may not need sugar water as much. Or, with all the daylight, they are feeding when I’m not looking. I hope they are still around so I can enjoy watching the moms bring their babies later.
Hummingbird bander Todd Eskelin returned to Seward last weekend expecting a surge, but was perplexed to only capture 18 over the two days at four different sites. He did recapture 3 at Ava’s from last year’s banding, showing site fidelity. Todd was very excited to recapture an adult male that was banded last year as a hatch year bird at a feeder several miles from Ava’s.
Without the banding and recapture, we would have no idea that hummers are migrating though Seward, returning to the same sites, or expanding their local territories. It’s a fascinating glimpse into their phenomenal lives.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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