Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 7:20 am, sunset 8:44 pm, for a total day length of 13 hours and 24 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 29 seconds longer. So much daylight!
April Fool’s Day trick yesterday: fat snowflakes sifting down in a wet snowstorm. Continuing winter trick: piles of snow blanket the ground several feet thick, except for under spruce, edge of roadway, and next to buildings.
Dandelion rosettes downtown look ready to send up flower stalks. Crocuses bloom inches from snow, but no bumblebees are out yet. Blooming willows wait expectantly for emerging insects and warblers feasting on the pollinators.
The forecast today for drizzle and snow showers proved wrong, wrong, wrong. A fog so thick that headlights hardly helped greeted the morning as I headed out to check out the low tide. The sun struggled to peek through, burning holes in the fog that framed the surrounding snowy mountains in mysterious, ever-changing vistas.
A few LAPLAND LONGSPURS scurried through the beach rye grass and the newly emerging green spears, searching for old seeds. A surprise, single SNOW BUNTING called overhead as it flew past. I heard the soft music of TRUMPETER SWANS in the distance but could not find them in the fog.
A few more, wary NORTHERN PINTAILS and GADWALLS joined resident and migrating MALLARDS, feeding in the sodden sedge wetlands and tideflat streams. GULLS cried and laughed overhead; more, many hundreds (a thousand?) screamed raucously at the mouth of Resurrection River. BALD EAGLES flapped ponderously on patrol, happy to stir the Gulls into a blizzard of feathers.
Suddenly, the good dog spotted a river otter strolling from the beach to the tide’s edge almost a mile away. Her barking spurred the otter into a fluid run across that wide expanse, a remarkable athletic feat. It finally reached a stream deep enough to plunge in and swim. I was sorry to have disrupted its peaceful stroll, and relieved the dog minded and did not give chase. The river otter, equipped with strong, sharp teeth and claws is more than capable of defending itself if necessary.
By late morning, the sun won the battle with the fog and shone warm and bright, raising the temp to 43ยบ. Back in town, the Lagoon was mostly ice-free at the north end with a large lead along the east side and an ever-widening open area at the south end. COMMON and BARROW’S GOLDENEYES, BUFFLEHEAD, and COMMON MERGANSERS dove, courted, and napped in the sun. A BELTED KINGFISHER, here all winter, rattled from the still dormant alders.
RAVENS are nesting; I noticed twig-gathering last month and found a telltale black tail showing above the rim of a stick nest.
A pair of HOODED MERGANSERS were reported here yesterday by Robin C, but I did not find them today. He also reported hearing a WESTERN SCREECH OWL around 10:30 pm at Old Exit Glacier Road a few nights ago, and a GREAT HORNED OWL at Stoney Creek Road. I have not heard any Saw-whet Owls this year in the forests of Mt Marathon and Bear Mt, and fear the concrete-hard snow may have prevented them from finding food.
The forecast calls for more snow, snow/rain, and snow showers, all variations of precip hovering just above freezing. If this happens, I’ll remember this mysterious, magical day. If it proves wrong, I’ll just savor it. Spring is here and those migratory birds are on their way!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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