Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 8:12 am, sunset 6:12 pm, for a total day length of 9 hours and 59 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 27 seconds longer.
Blue skies and sunshine returned today with a low of 22 and high of 30. NNW wind 3 to 8 with gusts up to 19 mph. Icicles dripped in the warm sunshine; reliable crocuses in town poked through the snow! BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES sang a spring song! More sunshine in the forecast with cooler temperatures until snow/snow showers return midweek.
I enjoyed listening to the “jipp, jipp, jipp” of a small flock of RED CROSSBILLS this morning at Afognak Beach. Initially, two were high in a spruce top, but they obligingly swooped down at eyelevel for photos. One seemed to be sipping meltwater from a branch, leaning upside down to hold that amazing crossed bill open to intercept the drops.
Red Crossbills seem to come in many assorted warm, tropical colors. According to the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds, most Red Crossbill males are reddish though their color varies; they always have red or yellow on the throat. Most females are yellowish olive, but may show patches of red; their throat is always gray. Though one of my birds was reddish and the other yellow-gold, they both had gray throats marking them as females.
A flurry of SNOW BUNTINGS swirled across the upper tide flats, making a cameo appearance before disappearing.
Off in the distance, I heard the wild trumpeting of, of course, TRUMPETER SWANS feeding on eel grass in the bay. I counted 16 after three flew in from the Resurrection River mouth. When passing the snow-covered Nash Road Mile 1 wetlands, I did not see any Swans at the back. Soon, a pair will be staking out their claim on this valuable nesting site.
Carol Griswold
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