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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Hello Kingbirds! If y'll have checked out my Alaska Photo Gall, then you know of Denali Highway! The views are BREATHTAKING right? I guess that's a rhetorical question. Denali Highway IS BREATHTAKING! No question about it. What I haven't told you you about Denali Highway, I hit one of Alaska's best breeding birds it has to offer! It's a flycatcher. An Empid to be exact, and no, I didn't hit the bird with a car, I hit it hard and fast with my binos! This Empid is widespread during migration in the east, casual to accidental in the west, and breeds across the taiga belt in Canada. Despite being uncommon, birders go through a lot of trouble to see one in the east, and few ever get to witness this bird in the upper Canadian taiga, let alone Alaska. There are onlt 2 known breeding pops of this bird in Alaska, according to my handy dandy Sibley. From the Yukon territory, their range barely extends into South-east Fairbanks county, plus an isolated pop in central Alaska. In Alaska, Hammond's and Alder Flycatchers greatly outnumber this bird where all 3 species' distributions overlap in the state. To give AK birders an even harder time, this Emp's breeding populations are in vast Black Spruce/Tamarack expansions. I'm talking thousands upon thousands upon thousands of acres of breeding habitat have the potential of holding very small amounts of these flycatchers! Believe me when I say, the land around Denali Highway is HUGE! THOUSANDS of Lakes and ponds dot the landscape, while MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of trees blanket the vast taiga/tundra! To top it off, far off in the distance, 12,000 ft. tall mountains loom like giants over the land! Anyways, let's get on with the story! We left the house at about 4:00, and because it was mid-summer, it was by no means dark out. The sky and trees were nearly lit up from the sun. On our drive, we were to go from Palmer, AK to the city of Fairbanks. That's a very long drive, especially because we were to drive across the 135 mile long Denali Highway. I was pumped up, and so glad that we were getting away from Palmer for a bit! North of Talkeetna, a small tourist community in central AK, we stopped at a MAGNIFICENT overlook of Mt. Sanford, one of the largest volcanoes and one of the highest points in North America at 16,237 ft., and Mt. Wrangell, which rises at 14,163 ft.! It was quite chilly, as the sun was just peaking above the mountains. The view was astounding, and both peaks were about 100 or so miles away to the southeast! Then, on the way back to the car, I heard an unfamiliar song beaming from some willow thickets. I bright little flycatcher popped into view at the minimum viewing focus of my binos, which is 6 ft! I could see every last detail so clearly, and the bird appeared very fresh in its plumage, feather edges, wing-bars, and eye-rings were were very prominent and bright white. I thought, "this couldn't possibly be an Alder Flycatcher, it's far too bright, and its song was quite different." The bird also had a tell-tale bright green-yellow belly underside. The birds wings were also blackish, with a crisp white patch on its wings as well. I think by now you've all identified this mystery flycatcher, but at that point I was still confused. I knew of only 2 other regularly occurring Empids that were brighter in color and pattern than Alders, Hammond's and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers. Although Hammond's is generally not as drab as Alder, their plumage is overall gray green, with thin grayish white wingbars and a prominent eyering. Their beak has a distinctive dark lower manindible, and they share the white tertial edges and white secondary patch with Yellow-bellied, though the white appears much crisper on the latter because of blackish wings. Unlike other Empids, the Yellow-bellied does not have a rival species. While Willow and Alder, Hammond's and Dusky, and the Pacific-slope and Cordilleran Flycatchers pair together, the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher stands alone. So, at the end of the day, I confirmed my sighting as the YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER! The overlook that I saw the Emp was probably 50 miles south of its normal haunts, but central Alaska is such a vast region that many areas remain unbirded, so there's potential that the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher's breeding distribution in Alaska extends farther south and west than originally known. That's why birding is so exciting, there's potential for a ground-breaking discovery around every corner! Anyways, I was so excited for my discovery, not only because it was an AMAZING lifer, but, do you realize how spectacular the view was? It was fantastic to see a small, bright flycatcher against one of the most amazing Alaskan backgrounds I've ever seen! However, that was just my first lifer of the trip, over 12 hours later, my Life List was looking pretty great! Soon afterward, we stopped at a little tundra pond that was teaming with ducks. There were 3 BUFFLEHEADS, 17 GREATER SCAUP, a REDHEAD DUCK, SOLITARY SANDPIPERS, and a lifer that was long overdue, a pair of WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS! Then, we hit Denali Highway (or, rather, Denali Highway hit us) It was clear blue skies as far as the eye could see, and as a bonus, no wind! It was perfect birding weather, if a plover was flying across the tundra, or A Jaeger was soaring in the sky, I had great chances of seeing it. No clouds to obsure my view, and no wind to make me shiver while holding binoculars, I had high hopes for this road trip!As we drove at a maximum speed of 35 mph, we flushed hundreds of Savannah Sparrows, and a few GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSHES, a lifer! Many of what I passed off as sparrows were more than likely LAPLAND LONGSPURS and a Savannah Sparrow look-alike, SMITH'S LONGSPURS! The latter of which is a potential lifer, and apparently the highway is a great breeding location for them. I didn't think of it then, but it's possible that the Smith's Longspur may find a place on my Life List soon! So many birds flushed, that it's more than likely that some were flocks of Smith's Longspurs. Eventually, we stopped for a reason I can't remember. I know it wasn't a bear or anything, but probably roadwork or something going on in front of us, because we never exited the car to look at scenery or birds. Anyways, I used that time to my advantage. I looked for any soaring birds over the tundra or something when, I spotted a pair of gulls or raptors circling above a hill-ridge. They had very long trailing central tail feathers, black caps and white undersides. They were incredibly graceful and beautiful, with a slender, tern-like physique, and small hooked bills. I was amazed to be looking at a pair of LONG-TAILED JAEGERS! They are commonly encountered birds out on the tundra, but were a nice addition to my Life List as well. We also found a pair of previously reported TUNDRA SWANS, in a little roadside pond, and a family of 6 TRUMPETER SWANS on a huge lake. We stopped at Susitna River bridge, and while there was about 200 CLIFF SWALLOWS, and some Mew Gulls, something cool happened. I was sitting in the car looking through an open door when a petite, large headed olive-brown bird peaked and hovered above the brush, then disappearing never to be seen again. It was without a doubt an ARCTIC WARBLER! Before the road trip, Arctic Warbler reports were popping up on my ebird alerts almost every day on the Denali Highway (Matanusku Susitna county areas of the highway), and were typically near or at the Susitna River. Although I was disappointed it was a brief, no-photo look, at least I finally got that bird! Elsewhere in the county, these Old World warblers are rare, so I thought I wouldn't see one before our move to Arizona, but I did anyways! In addition, we photographed a Beaver swimming and tail-slapping below the bridge. We eventually stopped and got out of the car to look at an astonishing view when we heard a hissing sound. 2 words, Flat tire. We took the poor tire to MacClerun River Lodge, and we were there waiting for the tire to be fixed up for 2 hours. I saw about 500 Cliff Swallows, a possible baby HORNED GREBE (lifer) and a pair of Solitary Sandpipers, I guess they aren't solitary after all! Also, a WILSON'S WARBLER flew across the baby grebe's lake. After Mr. Flat Tire was fixed up, we continued on to Fairbanks. I never saw any more lifers after that, so I don't feel the need to blog about our 2nd day (We stayed the night in Fairbanks). Although I missed some great birds that I'd longed to see, like American Golden Plover, Semipalmeted Plover, Gyrfalcon, Upland Sandpiper (that one's mean to birders), and Sharp-tailed Grouse, I did see; YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, LONG-TAILED JAEGER, GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH, RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, a SPRUCE GROUSE, LAPLAND LONGSPURS, most likely SMITH'S LONGSPURS, ARCTIC WARBLER, and possibly HORNED GREBE, or just another Red-necked Grebe, additionally, I saw my first for Alaska AMERICAN KESTRELS before we reached Fairbanks! So, it really was quite the birding success! 7 lifers!... Sure I didn't get everything, but I will be back to clean up Denali Highway... (In birding terms, to "clean up" means to make sure you obtain expected lifers, and be back to finish the job if you don't see every expected lifer, like in my case). Lastly, you can view the full list of birds I saw that day @ http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38294544 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38294353 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38294401 Mt. Sanford, not as seen from the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher's overlook (I'm surprised Dad didn't photograph that view) WOW! That was one unforgettable adventure that I had last summer! Be sure to check out my Denali Highway pix in the Alaska Photo Gall! And, if you're going to Alaska, Denali Highway has tons of potential for great discoveries and lifers! It's a must-visit if you have some AK adventure plans in mind! I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for my next TIMELINE POST! Note: Denali has some huge bumps, so hold on to your stomach, and don't hit your head on the seats or dash board! When there's a bump, brace yourself. CAUTION: The views are so INCREDIBLE, you might never want to leave!
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8/1/2022 08:37:42 pm
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December 2019
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