Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 8:46 am, sunset 6:41 pm for a total day length of 9 hours and 54 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 22 seconds shorter.
A nice break in the rain today; a low of 39 and a high of 48 with a chilly north wind. Rain is forecast for the rest of the week.
Robin C showed me the AMERICAN COOT at Bear Lake this afternoon at about the same location where Sulli first spotted it on Saturday. It was all alone, bobbing in the waves. If there’s only one bird, how fortunate it’s the rare one! I did not see it dive, though it may have nabbed some aquatic plant bits it prefers from the surface.
Although it looked like a dark duck with a white bill (and a red eye), it is a member of the Rail family. Instead of webbed feet, they have lobed toes like Grebes. Several members of the Rail family are flightless, but Coots are migratory and able to fly. Their short, rounded wings and weak flight means they are often blown off course.
Juneau, Seward, Anchorage, Fairbanks have also recently reported Coots. I wonder if the powerful storms over the last several weeks helped blow them northwest from their closest breeding grounds in western Canada?
When Bear Lake freezes, the Coot might migrate to Resurrection Bay to feed on eel grass like the resident Trumpeter Swans. Or blow who-knows-where. All the stranded Coots are invited to spend the winter here.
About a quarter mile south of the lonely Coot, dozens of ducks including RING-NECKED DUCKS, AMERICAN WIGEON, a MALLARD, a NORTHERN SHOVELER hen, a CANVASBACK pair, BUFFLEHEAD, BARROW’S GOLDENEYES, and SCAUP, and one RED-NECKED GREBE surrounded three adult TRUMPETER SWANS. The divers didn’t need the left-overs from the Swans’ lunch, but the dabblers seemed to appreciate the Swans’ long reach into the buffet.
We did not refind the pair of HOODED MERGANSERS, 6 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, or TRUMPETER SWAN family with 7 cygnets that Sulli and Tasha found on Saturday. Birds on the move, and it’s a big lake.
Seward birder David Jadhon counted an amazing 46 Ring-necked Ducks at 5:30 pm on Monday. This might be a new, unofficial record.
Back in town, a PACIFIC WREN scurried around my garage foundation, scolding loudly, practically at my feet. A flock of about a dozen WHITE-WINGED and RED CROSSBILLS descended on nearby spruce trees, then swirled off. I enjoyed hosting a juvenile Red Crossbill on Saturday, the day after I put up my sunflower seed feeder on the garage.
The single feeder also attracted three RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES and at least one CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE. Given the rapid rate of arrival, snatch, and departure, the Nuthatches stashed their prizes nearby.
Other notables: Robin C spotted 3 ANCIENT MURRELETS from the Waterfront with his scope on Sunday. I looked today without a scope and only saw a carpet of Gulls feeding on the harbor seafood processing plant outfall pipe. David H refound them today at 12:20 pm AND 35 FORK-TAIILED STORM-PETRELS. Time to start packing a scope!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
Update: On October 20, 2021, Tasha counted a remarkable 62 Ring-necked Ducks on Bear Lake.
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