Wednesday, November 9, 2022 American Coot, and Eurasian Brambling!

Seward, Alaska

Cloudy, mostly calm, scattered showers, temps in the low 30s. Fresh snow on the mountains but not in town.

Thanks to Robin Collman, I was fortunate to see the AMERICAN COOT that he spotted yesterday, and a BRAMBLING that he found this afternoon.

The last report I have on a Coot is from last year on October 18, 2021 at Bear Lake, also first reported by Robin. It didn’t stay long. Today’s bird lingered in a tide-flooding finger of what locals call “Bufflehead Creek” at the Airport estuary after the more wary Bufflehead pair shot off. We only caught brief glimpses as it paddled behind the beach rye grass lining the banks, but the whitish-billed, dark-bodied member of the Rail family is very distinctive.

A Brambling was last seen at the December 19, 2020 Seward Christmas Bird Count with Juncos on Marathon Blvd behind Safeway. Today’s Eurasian bird favored the company of at least dozen ROBINS and VARIED THRUSHES dining on Mt Ash berries in the 200-block of Second Ave. They flew back and forth between tall and dense spruce and the tangled branches of the Mt Ashes.

A pesky STELLER’S JAY and nosy BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE harassed all the birds, making them spooky and hard to find. The Brambling was notably smaller than the chunky thrushes, but bigger than the stub-tailed RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH working the tree trunks. Two SONG SPARROWS called from a nearby fence line, staking out their territories.

Birds once again dazzled a few lucky birders and brightened a dim, rain-speckled day.

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

 

 

Tuesday, November 1, 2022 Rock Sandpipers and Swan tragedy

Seward, Alaska

Sunrise 9:22 am, sunset 6:03 pm for a total day length of 8 hours and 41 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 11 seconds shorter.

After being blasted by the north wind and for the past week with gusts to 40 mph, a new low brought diminished winds (a mere 3-11 mph with gusts to 26) and sunshine for a welcome break mid-day. Then, as temps rose from the teens to 30º, came the calm before the storm as the wind shifted to the south, with a forecast for rain and a “wintry mix.” 

I breezed out to the tidelands during that lucky break and found frozen jellies washed up on the beach, including the mini-suns of Northern Sea Nettles, a slurry of Lion’s Mane, and glass-clear Water Jellies. What a curiosity to find these once fluid and graceful animals now stilled and stiff enough to hold like fanciful confections.

Bits of wind-blown rockweed etched perfect concentric circles in the firm sand around their unreliable storm-tossed rock anchors. The capricious wind enjoyed tossing anything movable and played with whatever remained.

As the tide ebbed to just the right distance, 28 ROCK SANDPIPERS and one or two DUNLIN fluttered in to start feeding, chittering and chattering. Their number had increased since I last saw them. They fed and flew, returning again to the same spot. So fine to see these hardy shorebirds likely to overwinter here on the shore of Resurrection Bay.

On the way home, I swung by the harbor and found two young male RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS snorkeling along the docks, their unkempt crests almost flattened. 

The lovely day dissolved when I received a call of distress near dusk at 4:50 pm: two adult TRUMPETER SWANS had flown from Preacher Pond, near the intersection of the highway and Nash Road, in a direct line to Bear Lake. 

One Swan missed the numerous and unmarked lines strung like piano wire between the power poles but the other hit the almost invisible lines and fell like a rock to its death in the driveway to a local business near the pond.

I advised the caller to call the Alaska Sealife Center and the wildlife rescue responders collected the 25-pound Swan before I arrived. How sad to see a few beautiful white feathers on the cold, hard ground under the wires!  

Another preventable tragedy occurred on October 19^th when a 4-month old cygnet hit the lines near its birthplace at the Mile 1 Nash Road wetlands, one of the five babies. 

All these hazardous wires surrounding swan habitat and flight corridors should be festooned with bird deflectors, or better, buried. The buried lines along the Lagoon in town are a wonderful success story and example. Sorry for the sad news.

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter