Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 4:54 am, sunset 11:14 pm, for a total length of day of 18 hours and 20 minutes. Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 16 seconds shorter.
Cool, foggy then cloudy, rainy weather continues, though the high finally reached 53º today after an overnight low of 46º. The forecast calls for some sunshine midweek then back to showers.
Sound check on bird songs this week reflected a significant decrease in species and numbers as busy parents tended to their babies, or have already left. Last night’s walk was totally quiet; I missed the sweet neighborhood HERMIT THRUSH serenade.
My Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Violet-green Swallows have already fledged, so I was happy to again hear the excited begging of baby VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS in a nest box at the salt marsh. The parents gracefully swooped overhead in dizzying loops up and down the sky aisles, returning in minutes with shopping bags full of insects.
Taking turns, they skillfully landed in the entrance, popped inside, and dispensed the fast food into gaping beaks. Then the inquisitive head poked out and they swiftly returned to continue their tireless aerial shopping, accumulating rewards and airline miles. Would that we could be as elegant and efficient with carbon-free, locally sourced shopping!
Nearby, anxious SAVANNAH SPARROW parents chipped from the dense grasses concealing their nests and babies. Several popped up to investigate this passerby, precariously perching on lupines and grasses with wriggling caterpillars and other insects in their beaks. Also heard but not seen, a singing LINCOLN'S SPARROW.
Sadly, in all the lupines, I did not hear or see even one bumblebee. The flowers should have been droning with their activity. I did find one bumblebee working the beach pea flowers. Bumblebee populations have really plummeted this year with the cold, wet spring. I had none on my crocuses or other yard flowers including willows.
At the Nash Road Mile One pond and wetlands, I was fortunate to find all three TRUMPETER SWAN cygnets enthusiastically dining with their parents. Now about one-month old, the babies have noticeably taller necks and longer bodies; they are thriving.
A lone adult, unchallenged at least when I observed it over several days, quietly shared the pond but at the extreme opposite side, or paddled around the pond on the east side of the road by itself.
Hard to know what’s going on, but it’s always intriguing to get glimpses into the lives of these busy, beautiful birds.
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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