Seward, Alaska
In contrast to yesterday’s brilliant sunshine, thick fog rolled in by morning, shrouding everything in mystery. No blue sky, no scenic mountains, no blue-green water, nothing but gray. The incessant announcements from the docked cruise ship wafted through the fog as did the disembodied voice of a desperate tour boat captain bravely heading out with expectant guests.
By midday, the south breeze picked up and shredded the fog into scurrying ghosts. Ah! Back to summer!
I headed to Fourth of July Beach, past the packed parking lots of anglers here to snag red salmon from Afognak Beach and Spring Creek Campground. Whitecaps now topped the roiling bay.
A line of about 30 SURF SCOTERS rode the waves up and down and then dove in synchrony just offshore; now you see them, now you don’t. They were also here on Wednesday, June 12, with a surprise COMMON LOON in non-breeding plumage.
It seems strange that these Surf Scoters are here instead of nesting in lakes or ponds in the boreal forest. I think of them as an overwintering species, not summer residents.
Suddenly, “Wheep! Wheep! Wheep!” Two BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS flew down the beach calling stridently. Just like on June 1, another very unexpected sighting!
Around 5 pm, after allowing time for traffic to thin out, I headed to bike Exit Glacier Road. About a half-mile into the national park, I heard my target species: the elusive GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. Finally! I even saw him in the distance perched on top of a snag, singing away.
Farther down the road, I heard a SWAINSON’S THRUSH singing and several HERMIT THRUSHES, and watched a ROBIN hunting invertebrates along the creek. Although I listened hard, I did not hear a Varied Thrush to complete my quintet.
ORANGE-CROWNED, YELLOW, YELLOW-RUMPED, WILSON’S, and TOWNSEND’S Warblers, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, Hermit Thrushes, and FOX SPARROWS serenaded me with their beautiful songs all along the road.
Nootka Lupines are blooming, magenta River Beauty is just starting, and the sun-seeking Yellow Mountain-Avens nodded from their compact mats along the warm edge of the pavement in the national forest.
I saw a few Arctic White butterflies, but no Milbert’s Tortoiseshell butterflies, which should have flown in May. The long, cold, wet spring may have impacted them and bumblebees, whose numbers are way down.
On a brighter "note", when I returned home a Robin sweetened the early evening with his clear, lovely melodies. Ah, spring, soon to be summer!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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