Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 5:07 am, sunset 10:44 pm, for a total day length of 17 hours and 37 minutes. Tomorrow will be 4 minutes and 18 seconds longer.
Brief interludes of sunshine these past few days cheered the spirit between frequent rain squalls with temps ranging from 35 to 43ยบ. Lawns in town turned bright green seemingly overnight on this watering schedule and lawn mowers sprang to life. Similar cool temperatures and showers are in the forecast for the ten days.
Clouds of screaming Gulls in local streams this week signaled the arrival of hooligan (aka euchalon) as they hovered and dove, trying to catch one by one. Somehow RAVENS and BALD EAGLES managed to either scavenge dropped fish or patiently catch them.
Farther upstream, fishers scooped them up by the many dozens with dip nets, quickly filling coolers for use as bait or dinner.
After spawning, the surviving smelt will return to the ocean to regain their energy and, if lucky, return year after year to spawn, with a lifespan of 3-5 years.
The 6-10” hooligan are too big for ARCTIC TERNS. They were busy targeting salmon smolt and 9-spined sticklebacks in the estuary pond and wetlands.
Whereas the smolt are migrating to sea to grow and mature, the sticklebacks are migrating from saltwater to brackish or fresh water to breed. The male stickleback will build, guard, and aerate the eggs, then care for the newly hatched larvae. In the fall, the surviving sticklebacks return to the ocean. The males may live to age 3, the females to age 5 or more.
The Terns did not care about these fascinating anadromous fish life cycles, but after an intense search, hovered, dove, and plunged into the water. Then, if lucky, they offered each unlucky fish a free flight-see around the area before graciously delivering the treat to a waiting lady, or gobbled it down headfirst, spines notwithstanding.
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES invaded the saltwater estuary this week to noisily gather nest building supplies. Dozens gathered to attack the exposed hummocks of sedges and mud, ripping out hunks with their bills. They often dropped the load, and immediately returned to get another, loudly demanding a full refund.
The nearest nesting colony is about 18 miles to the south at Cape Resurrection. I do not understand why they travel so far to gather their nesting material, likely dropping most of it nearby or en route. Regardless of the inefficiency, it seemed like an exciting tradition.
Other birds of note today: five SANDHILL CRANES landed overnight and took off by midday with a few GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. Three wary TRUMPETER SWANS rested in the pond; I wonder if they are non-resident migrants? Three WHIMBRELS, also stragglers, foraged in the newly emerging grass of the uplands for invertebrates.
I found my FOS YELLOW WARBLER male singing in the alders, just starting to leaf out, joining ORANGE-CROWNED, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, VARIED THRUSH, ROBINS, FOX SPARROW, and SNIPE. I also heard my FOS WILSON’S WARBLER here a few days ago. The choir is assembling!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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