Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 4:33 am, sunset 11:28 pm for a total day length of 18 hours and 54 minutes. Length of visible light is 22 hours and 34 minutes. Tomorrow will be a negligible four seconds shorter.
'Twas a misty, moisty, foggy day, this first day of summer with a low of 47 and a high of 52. Rain is in the forecast for the next week with similar mild temperatures.
Conditions were ideal for perfect water drop spheres to adorn spruce needles and cones like jewels. The faintest quiver collapsed the surface tension and the fragile riches quickly slid off. I wandered from one wonder to the next, marveling at the beauty of ephemeral mist transformed.
An AMERICAN CROW, SAVANNAH SPARROW, and a SONG SPARROW popped up to watch me, anxious about their young families nearby.
In nearby Spring Creek pond, a diligent mother GADWALL hustled her ten tiny ducklings to shelter, all paddling furiously in her wake. A GOLDENEYE hen briefly checked on the passing parade then disappeared back into the sedges, hiding her own babies.
A pair of Gadwall, the same pair seen here for the past month, swam over to me, just as before, the hen more bold than the drake. They did not seem to have ducklings to worry about. A female BELTED KINGFISHER perched on old snags in the pond; I wonder where her nest is?
Next, I checked out Fourth of July Beach and found a COMMON LOON paddling serenely just offshore and preening. As hoped, after a leisurely leg stretch, it spread those star-spangled wings, then resumed diving and feeding. Nearby, a PIGEON GUILLEMOT, three MARBLED MURRELETS, and five drake HARLEQUIN DUCKS. Two BALD EAGLES flew overhead surveying the red salmon and fresh seabird menu.
’Twas a calm, gray, “misterious”, first day of summer, full of unanticipated wonder and hope.
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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