Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 10:01 am, sunset 3:51 pm, for a total day length of 5 hours and 50 minutes. Tomorrow will be 0 minutes and 15 seconds shorter as we approach the Winter Solstice on December 21.
Temperatures ranged from 27-35 today under cloudy pewter-blue skies, with rain forecast starting today through Count Day and beyond.
Like several other Alaskan communities, the Seward Christmas Bird Count is scheduled for Saturday, December 21. Count Week started on December 18.
Highlights for me so far included a NORTHERN SHRIKE, adult, that silently flew in and perched on a snag, hunting. Five GREAT BLUE HERONS stood on the old coal dock; solid, immobile dark shapes, easily overlooked. Twenty-four TRUMPETER SWANS foraged just offshore at Afognak Beach. Four WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS dove off Lowell Point Road; one popped up with a crab. Over twenty ROBINS in a mixed flock with about five PINE GROSBEAKS fed on Mt Ash berries in town.
On December 14, an immature AMERICAN GOSHAWK flashed into the open, chased by an outraged RAVEN, then just as quickly disappeared.
Not birds but exciting: on Monday, four Steller Sea Lions cruised fluidly next to shore, their breath exhalations ringing out in the silence. They continued to swim to Lowell Point Beach where I rediscovered them in the late afternoon just at dusk. Dark, triangular noses poked up in the calm water then disappeared as the sea lions breathed rhythmically, lounging peacefully together.
Suddenly, a loud slap and splashing disturbed the silence. Pandemonium erupted as the suddenly animated sea lions chased after unseen fish. Back and forth they swirled. One sea lion breached several times, clearing the water by at least a foot while the others slapped, twisted, and twirled! What a show!
Good luck on your CBCs and
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
