Seward, Alaska
Clear, cold, and windy continued today with a low of minus four at 8 am and a high of plus four at 2:30 pm. The north wind still packed a punch with gusts to 27 mph. The forecast calls for temperatures rising from minus 4 to plus 19 by tomorrow evening and a chance of snow. The cold snap is over, hopefully.
The WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS flocked to Lowell Point beach this morning, a colorful bouquet of tropical colors. I noticed some used their pink tongues to pick up invisible-to-me items; maybe licking ice? Getting grit or small tidbits in the wrack? With such a specialized scissorbill, a tongue is an important tool.
A single WHITE-WINGED SCOTER hen popped up near Lowell Point Road. Unfortunately, the heat waves from the car distorted the images and I didn’t want to get out. A small avalanche partially blocked the road and I was glad to get past it.
Across the bay at Afognak Beach, I searched for TRUMPETER SWANS and found two adults far out in the north wind near an intertidal stream in the tidelands. An adult BALD EAGLE perched regally in a favorite spruce snag at the Point. A female BUFFLEHEAD took refuge in Afognak Pond with a napping drake MALLARD. Almost the whole beach was icy and slippery so after a while I gave up and drove to Fourth of July Beach.
The wind whipped around the shipyard, but 4 degrees almost felt warm, relatively. A raft of BARROW’S GOLDENEYES huddled in the lee of the breakwater. Four HARLEQUIN DUCKS dove just offshore accompanied by a GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. Steam boiled and roiled down the bay.
North of the SMIC boat basin I found six SURF SCOTERS and a PELAGIC CORMORANT bobbing the waves.
The Seward Boat Harbor remained frozen at both ends with open water leads. I enjoyed photographing a small parade of unsuspecting Barrow’s Goldeneyes, a COMMON MERGANSER drake, and a red-eyed HORNED GREBE paddling past the dock
The sun zipped behind the western mountains at 3 pm, casting the town into shadows. I thought the show was over and was on my way home when I spotted a fracas of RAVENS and BALD EAGLES circling around just south of the harbor by Scheffler Creek.
Despite the cold and wind, birding these past few days has been a joy, illuminated by that great spotlight sailing low across the sky.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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