Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 7:15 am, sunset 8:36 pm for a total day length of 13 hours and 21 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 24 seconds shorter.
A nice break in the rain today after recent periods of heavy rain and more rain to come. Temps dipped to 39 last night, but rose bravely to 56 by midday, with a south breeze.
“Kek! Kek! Kek!” I heard, then found a female RUSTY BLACKBIRD in an elderberry bush. I refound her a short while later scrounging along the high tide line at the beach. Only one, when there should have been a noisy group, but nonetheless, exciting to find. Other than a few SAVANNAH SPARROWS, a smattering of ducks, and the usual BALD EAGLES, RAVENS, and SHORT-BILLED GULLS, it was pretty quiet.
On a misty late afternoon walk Thursday between squalls at the salt marsh, a mixed flock of 11 medium-sized shorebirds flew nervously from one side of the pond to the other, landed briefly to feed, then shot off again.Their long, straight bills, and the bright white wedge from the barred tail up the middle of the back, identified the six larger ones as Dowitchers.
As I stood motionless, they again erupted into flight and circled around me, whizzing past me with rush of wings on their return. I felt I could have reached out and touched them!
After they landed, I crept closer to get photos. I believe they were LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS. They lacked the bold internal marks on the tertials and inner coverts of the tired Short-Billed juvenile I spotted on August 23, resting on a log.
The five others, I believe, were PECTORAL SANDPIPERS. They all fed ravenously, plunging their heads underwater at times to reach more food. Fortunately, I was able to back away without disturbing them.
As always, I appreciate any corrections to my ID.
For much greater detail on Dowitcher Identification, check out this excellent site: https://daretobird.blogspot.com/2017/08/dowitcher-identification.html
As the rain spluttered back, I checked out the waterfront by car. A single, very small dark seabird rose up and down in the waves offshore: FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL. I was surprised that there was only one, given all the stormy weather. It rested for a while, then rose up, pattered along the sea surface with its tiny webbed feet, and then fluttered back down. We may see more of these mini-tubenoses in the coming week as the storms return.
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
PS The photos are a much higher resolution when viewed on a computer for some mysterious reason.
No comments:
Post a Comment