From a small town to a big city...
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A Birding Blog
By Jared Conaway
From a small town to a big city...
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Hi everyone! I was thinking of doing the posts chronologically, but I really want to start with some of the more memorable posts first. I've kind of given myself a headache trying to remember all the buildup that came before the lifers in early 2016. This story, however, is definitely impossible to forget. I've always wanted to share this amazing story with others.
In the early morning of Aug 27th, we were heading out of a small motel on the outskirts of the smallest "city" in Alaska, a fishing community called Seward. Seward is located on the north-east side of the Kenai Peninsula, a vast peninsula with some of the best birding locations in Alaska. The peninsula is cleverly positioned so that Prince William sound on the east side separates it from southeast AK. On the west side, Cook Inlet separates it from southwest Alaska. Because of the clever positioning, JACK SNIPE, BRAMBLING, HAWFINCH, DUSKY THRUSH, SIBERIAN ACCENTOR, and REDWING THRUSH have blown in to the Kenai Peninsula from the Aleutians, and they were blown in to the Aleutians from Asia. Meanwhile, reports of RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, WESTERN SCREECH-OWL, YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, and COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD flood in every few years! In a way, I got a taste of this on a smaller scale the next day. Anyways, the 27th was to be our next day in Seward, and after an exhausting attempt to find an available campsite the previous night, today we were content on finding one. At last, we found one! After setting up camp, I set out to discover what small passerine was flitting above in the Sitka Spruces and making husky calls. As it turns out, they were CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES! That's a long over-due lifer at the time, after all, after the Black-capped Chickadee they are the most common Chickadee species in Alaska! I also was delighted to get within a few feet of a roadside foraging STELLER'S JAY. The funniest birds had to be the NORTHWESTERN CROWS. One of them was trying to pull a sprite bottle out of a camping chair cup holder! An adjacent abandoned campsite had Crows lining up single file, grabbing some cheddar flavored chips one at a time, and moving to the back of the line again! Another highlight were tons of BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES and GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS. Kittiwakes are always really cool to watch! Then came Aug 28th... Before departing from Seward, we stopped over at Benny Benson Lagoon. A single BARROW'S GOLDENEYE FM was swimming across the lagoon. I checked it once, then twice, to see if maybe it was a Long-tailed Duck. Nope. I believe we were searching the embankments for about 10 minutes, till I spied a bird on the other side of the lagoon lying on a rock. It had a peculiar pattern, one I really recognized. After much careful study, I concluded it to be a HOODED MERGANSER! It was a juv. bird, with a coal-black back, white shafts on its tertials, a narrow black and yellow bill, and brown head. He was sun-bathing or basking, with his feet sticking straight out behind him. His wings were slightly held out to the side to soak up the sun. I was really skeptical at first, in fact, I wasn't sure till later that day. I had my reasons, because Hooded Mergansers are rare at pretty much any location they are found in Alaska. They are also an incredibly elusive species in the state. They reside on lakes in the middle of nowhere, so a report could come up weeks, or even months after a previous one. They are quite reliable at stream-sides and ponds splitting off from large mainland rivers and surrounded by cottonwoods. Even then, southeastern Alaska is only accessible by ferry or plane! So yeah, Hooded Mergansers can be extremely difficult to find in Alaska. What a remarkable bird! On the same rock, his cousin a RED-BREASTED MERGANSER FM was standing right in front! Not a lifer, but one of my favorite birds. The last detail is that it was incredibly windy! None the less, my Dad and I high-fived and celebrated. We also stayed for nearly an hour at the entrance of the Lost Lake Trail (check out that place in the Alaska Photo Gall). We were surrounded by GIANT, awe-inspiring Western Hemlocks and Sitka Spruce. Many GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS, BROWN CREEPERS, and CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES popped in and out of sight as most foraged and sang high up in the 150 foot tall conifers! Many were nearly on the ground in the baby hemlocks though. One of my favorite birds ever, a VARIED THRUSH flew over the canopy. The wave of lifers continued on once we were on the road again! We stopped at a small roadside pond to look at a duck that was swimming around in it. It was yet another long-awaited and long over-due lifer, the REDHEAD DUCK. Like the Hooded Merg, they are exceptionally difficult to come across in every region of the state. Unlike the Merganser, however, they are far more widespread in the last frontier and slightly more common. Like the Goldeneye and Red-breasted Merg it was a female. That leaves the final lifer of the day! We were driving alongside Summit Lake when my Dad spotted 3 large, white-breasted brown birds on the lake. I told him they were loons. Then I said my most memorable phrase of the trip. "Maybe they are Yellow-billed's." At the moment, nothing said they were Yellow-billed Loons, but since I never thought twice about checking Common Loons, I'd thought this time I would. It was sunset at the time, we were still on the Kenai Peninsula, and the lake shone a spectacular golden. We stopped, and right away I located the birds. I made sure to check all of them, and from nearest to farthest from me, I collected an tell-tale field marks. I remember this really excited felling that fell over me when the nearest loon turned its head to reveal a large yellow bill. I thought, "OH THANK YOU GOD!!!!!! YOU ARE SOOO AMAZING!!!!"One after the other, they ALL had yellow bills, the distinctive straight culmen, and sandy brown coloration with bright white feather edges on the scapulars and wings. They were Juveniles. I also remember being in disbelief and awe at the same time. I thought maybe I was seeing things, but a nearly a year later, My Sibley Guide allowed me to close my case. There is no doubt that rests in my mind now of what I saw that day! I enjoyed the birds after my insane identification, and like the Hooded Merg from earlier, we high-fived and laughed. The funny thing is, on a bird walk exactly 2 weeks before, I asked the bird walk leader, Cole Talbot, about where to find those 2 species (and Chestnut-backed Chickadee)! That story, is coming soon, as well as the next day after that's story, which has a huge connection to the other story. Now, I'm so glad to get it off my plate to tell that amazing story! If you think about it, I saw my favorite species of chickadee the CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, 3 of my favorite birds, the HOODED MERGANSER, the VARIED THRUSH (non-lifer), and the YELLOW-BILLED LOON! And of course, we can't forget the adorable REDHEAD (the duck, not a human girl)! So with that being said, it was the day of the Yellow-billed-Chicka-Merg-Duck! I'm Jared Conaway, thanks for reading this spectacular birding success, and stay tuned for my next TIMELINE post! WOW, this story sounds even greater now that I've written it and it's no longer stuck up in my thoughts!!!!!!!!
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