Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 8:33 am, sunset 6:56 pm for a total day length of 10 hours and 22 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 24 seconds shorter.
The predicted cold front from eastern Russia finally arrived with NNW winds at 21 mph gusting to 31, displacing the recent days of heavy rain. The wind rattled and howled, ripping and whisking away anything not nailed down, and a few things that were.
This morning, the season’s first fragile ice formed on shallow puddles and ponds after an overnight low of 28º. It soon melted as the temp rose to a high of 47º by mid-afternoon. The forecast calls for the return of cloudy weather and rain for the next week with temps in the 40s.
What a joy to see blue sky smiling above the snow-dusted mountains after all those drab, gray, stormy days! Bundled up against the chilly wind this morning, I searched the estuary and tidelands in case any more rare birds had blown in.
I didn’t find any rarities, but was very pleased to find two DUNLINS foraging along an intertidal stream. Seward often hosts a few Dunlins, overwintering with Rock Sandpipers; time will tell if these two stay to tough it out.
I also found a single adult TRUMPETER SWAN paddling near a blizzard of Gulls at the tidelands. Two other adult Trumpeter Swans have been feeding at Preacher Pond by the intersection of the Seward Highway and Nash Road. I haven’t seen the Swan family with five cygnets at Mile 1, Nash Road for a week.
Exit Glacier beckoned; I don’t know when the road will be gated. Toothy mountain shadows crept across the glacier; the sun is already sinking farther south, blocked by the surrounding mountains. A waning moon rolled across a ridgeline, balanced on a knob, then gently sank behind the snow-speckled mountain. Good-bye, Moon! It may be a while before the clouds let us see you again.
What a delightful fall day, a much-appreciated reprieve from the drizzle, showers, heavy rain, sleet, and raging wind.
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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