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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I don't think I've ever seen even just 1 lifer on the way to school, except, I miracuously saw 3 on Febuary 16th, and ALL members of Calcariidae... My NBB (non-birder brother), Brian, was driving me to school on Feb. 16th, 2017. A couple minutes from our house, there's a small experimental farming field. Often times, it's filled with Snow and Canada Geese and cranes during spring and fall migration, but this time, it was filled with something different. Under normal circumstances, it's actually void of any birds at all, except maybe for a flyover raven or eagle. In Alaska, winter is usually the worst time to see lifers, or any interesting birds for that matter. This time, however, the desolate Alaskan winter bent the rules quite far.
It was windy. Snow was being swept off the ground, and trees were swaying with the strong wind. A huge flock of little birds erupted from underneath and around the car, flying sporadically and very frantically. The birds were flying ahead and alongside our car. For a few moments, I honed my sight on a peculiar bird lagging behind the flock. Almost all the birds came and went in a flash, not enough time to identify colors, but a bird in the back looked like a snowball with wings, it gleamed like a beacon because it was so white, and despite being identified as a closely related but different species, it confirmed what species the entire flock consisted of. Once we reached the round about, A thought snapped into my head, I knew what they were, they were too distictive for me not to no what they were. Loose, sporadic flock movements & low, swooping flight pattern, white coloration, and a field chosen as suitable wintering habitat, I told Brian that the birds we'd just seen were SNOW BUNTINGS! The all-white bird, however, just seemed different, somehow. It gave me a gut reaction when we were going the same speed as the bunting for those few moments. The bird was also flying with a couple of other snows, and definitely looked bigger, possibly just because it was also whiter. After I reported my Snow Bunting flock sighting on ebird, it became a popular trend on AK Birding (a Yahoo group), as Snow Buntings typically winter in remote areas in Alaska. I also was seeing the Buntings often, almost everyday when going on errand-runs. When a fresh layer of snow blanked the neighboring field in March, little circles of buntings formed underneath the massive ravens (they literally huddled underneath the ravens)! Among the buntings, about a hundred LAPLAND LONGSPURS were reported by most AK Birders, also a lifer! Ever since I made eye contact with that "different" bird on Feb. 16th, I pondered and pondered its ID, until my ponderer was sore (Grinch reference, sort of). By early March, I triumphantly announced its finalized identification to Bob Whinkler at a Ma-Su Birders meeting. he was the county's ebird reviewer and, at the time, president of the Mat-Su Birders Club . I told him what I was sure it was, a MCKAY'S BUNTING. I explained to him about my direct size and color comparison, and he said he'd let the sighting go through with the ebird filter, so it would still show up on the public database and not just my ebird Life List. Normally, rare birds are flagged and ebird reviewers notify you via email that without a photo or reasonable details, the sighting will not end up in the ebird public database. I was surprised to hear from Bob that he would allow for the sighting to go through, as usually that is not the case, because I didn't usually have a camera with me, or even my own camera, for confirmation of rarities. So with that, I added the McKay's Bunting to my ebird checklist for that day, and was incredibly happy about it. Here's a little bit about the bird: The McKay's Bunting is known to breed on only 2 or 4 islands in the entire world, but possibly a couple more! It winters on the west coast of mainland Alaska, the Aleutians, and the Pribolif islands on beaches and agricultural fields. They often mix flocks with Snow Buntings, and sometimes stray south and east of their normal winter range. Because food abundance and famine fluctuate, McKay's Buntings are prone to wander out of range in search of food, alongside a large flock of Snow Buntings. I don't know if this nomadic habit has ever taken them out of the state of Alaska, but many reports in Canada and the lower 48 have been mis-identifications, turning out to be Albino House Sparrows. In December of 2011, Carol Griswold discovered a McKay's in flock of 100+ Snows, even being lucky enough to photograph i!. That bird was seen in Seward, which as mentioned in a previous post, makes for a very interesting birding location in Alaska, because of its geographical placement. The McKay's Bunting also has an incredibly limited range, breeding and wintering only in Alaska, and with a total estimate of less than 6,000 birds! In winter, it is an uncommon yard bird in far western towns in the state, such as Nome. Lastly, my McKay's Bunting sighting did not stand alone that winter. Bob had allowed me to confirm my sighting without a photo because he too, had seen a McKay's Bunting that winter, on a different experimental farm, and multiple were reported by an AK Birder in Sutton, a remote location in the Mat-Su CO! With all those MCKAY'S BUNTINGS reports, it's very obvious that the 2016-2017 winter was an eruption year, and my first eruption winter I've ever had the opportunity to experience & witness! WOW, what a crazy adventure that was! Who sees a McKay's Bunting on the way to school?... I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for my next TIMELINE post!
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