Seward, Alaska
The furious northwest wind did indeed pick up last night, breaking off tree branches overburdened with leaves and churned the bay into a rainbow-splashed froth of whitecaps and water spouts. A few snow pellets sailed around in the morning, but soon the sun returned to brighten the exciting, power scene.
I searched for the Sandhill Crane family in the waving grasses without success. All they had to do was lift their wings then steer to blow halfway to California on this expressway. Maybe they’ve arrived already!
While checking for seabirds at Spring Creek on the east side of the bay, a leaf shot across the parking lot like the rest of the tumbling cottonwood and alder leaves then turned and blew back. What the heck? A SWALLOW!
I tried desperately to follow it with my camera, almost getting seasick trying to track the rapid loops and dives as it flashed over the pond, behind the trees and over the gravel parking lot. I switched to binocs and thought I saw a faint band. It also seemed small. A BANK SWALLOW? It sure reminded me of the Bank Swallow that accompanied the Purple Martins seen here last October.
The unanswerable questions remain: where did this Swallow blow from and why is it here? Regardless, it sure was fun to find it in the teeth of that wind, seemingly unfazed.
Unfazed as well was the resident TRUMPETER SWAN family, calmly feeding at their Nash Road pond home as the wind screamed overhead. I haven’t yet spotted the family away from the pond, but the four cygnets should be flight capable by now.
NOAA predicts clear skies tonight with a low around 33 and that good old NW wind sweeping away the last vestiges of summer at 50 to 60 mph. My house is already shaking and the trees are dancing violently. Hold on to your hat!
(Update: that overnight velocity fortunately did not materialize in Seward.)
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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