birding never sleeps: ALASKA 2024 part 3: Seward/Kenai Fjord (17-19 June)

ALASKA 2024 part 3: Seward/Kenai Fjord (17-19 June)

Monday 17 June. Nick and I went to Spenard Lake from 05:30-6:15 and the cycle track opposite America's Best ... from 06:45-07:30 seeing male Gadwall, 2 American Wigeon, 5 Mallard, male Green-winged Teal, 5 Greater and 2 Lesser Scaup, 2 Goldeneye, 4 Red-necked Grebe, 4 Short-billed Gulls, Alder Flycatcher, 2 Black-billed Magpies, 3 Violet-green Swallows, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 3 American Robins, 3 Starlings, Lincoln's Sparrow and Orange-crowned Warbler. We packed and left at 08:00 to drive to Kincaid Park on the edge of Anchorage for an angry male Spruce Grouse. It did not disappoint, pecking at our footwear. Equally good was a male American Three-toed Woodpecker and we also saw Boreal Chickadee, 3 Pine Siskins and the first of the day's three Sooty Fox Sparrows and a Moose. We continued to Seward stopping at Potter’s Marsh (Trumpeter Swan pair with 4 cygnets and Sandhill Crane), Beluga Point (American Black Bear from the bus for me), Tern Lake (Trumpeter Swan pair with 3 cygnets and Mountain Goats) and Seward Coast/Lovell Point (6 Harlequins, 4 Marbled Murrelet, an American Herring and 100+ Glaucous-winged Gulls with several questionable first-summers and 3 Sea Otters and a Steller's Sea Lion). Early evening Nick and I walked around our accommodation (Marina Motel) where American Robin was best. Other birds seen were 3 Canada Geese, a female/immature White-winged Scoter, Wilson's Snipe, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, 2 Common and 4 Pigeon Guillemots, 20 Kittiwakes, 8 Arctic Terns, Great Northern Diver, Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants, 2 Golden and 5 Bald Eagles, 4 Northwest Crows, 8 Ravens, Red-breasted Nuthatch, 3 Pine Siskins, Dark-eyed Junco and a Wilson's Warbler.

Short-billed Gull in Spenard

Lesser Scaup on Spenard Lake

Black-billed Magpie by Spenard Lake

Orange-crowned Warbler in Spenard

Alder Flycatcher in Spenard

Violet-green Swallow in Spenard

Spruce Grouse in Kincaid Park

Nick wearing anti-grouse footwear

Moose in Kincaid Park

American Three-toed Woodpecker in Kincaid Park

Seward Highway

Golden-crowned Sparrow by the Seward Highway

Wilson's Warbler by the Seward Highway

Tern Lake

Great Northern Diver on Tern Lake

Arctic Terns on Tern Lake

Tern Lake Trumpeter Swan family

Seward from Lowell Point

Sea Otter off Lowell Point

Glaucous-winged Gulls at Lowell Point

with 2CY American Herring Gull (note black primaries and less robust, pinkish based bill) while some other first-summers present showed darker secondary coverts than expected

Northwest Crow at Lowell Point (currently considered to be a race of American Crow)

American Robin in Seward

Tuesday 18 June. After last evenings disappointment we didn’t go out before breakfast. A big mistake as Paul and Richard discovered from eBird that Two Lakes Park a km of so away might be worthwhile. They saw 3 Varied Thrushes there. We checked in for our Kenai Fjord boat trip at 07:30 and with 25-30 others we departed on ‘Viewfinder’ soon after 08:15. It was excellent all day cruise to Kenai Fjord Glacier with almost constant sightings of seabirds and marine mammals on the way there and back. We returned at 18:00, me having seen 500 Common, 25 Brunnich's and 6 Pigeon Guillemots, 6 Marbled, 20 Kittlitz's and 13 Ancient Murrelets, 40 Parakeet and 27 Rhinoceros Auklets, 50+ Horned and 250+ Tufted Puffins, 1000 Kittiwakes, 12 Sabine's and 40 Glaucous-winged Gulls (and a couple I wasn't sure about), 4 Short-tailed Shearwaters, a Red-faced and 30 Pelagic Cormorants, 9 Bald Eagles and a Peregrine. Also 6 Sea Otters, 10 Steller's Sea Lions, 50 Harbour Seals, 5 Dall's Porpoises, 2 each of Fin and Humpback Whales and Orca and a Mountain Goat with kid. With a spectacular backdrop the cruise was definitely one of the trip highlights. We drove to Ava’s feeders on the edge of Seward. Ava having recently passed away but a neighbour was keeping them topped up. On the way back we were dropped off at Paul and Richard’s Varied Thrush site and after some frustrations with an invisible calling bird had views of one fairly high in a fairly dense pine. At Ava's feeders and around Seward we saw 2 Rufous Hummingbirds (the male only paid a couple of fleeting visits), male and female Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, 3 Steller's Jays, 6 Black-billed Magpies, 4 Northwest Crows, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Hermit Thrush, 3 American Robins, Pine Grosbeak, 15 Pine Siskins, Sooty Fox Sparrow and Myrtle Warbler. We were back at Marina Motel at 20:15.

Leaving Seward on the Viewfinder

Sea Otter in Resurrection Bay

Caines Head

Horned Puffin

Parakeet Auklets in Harding Gateway/Gulf of Alaska

Tufted Puffin in the Gulf of Alaska

Short-tailed Shearwaters

Kittiwake and Tufted Puffin

Sabine's Gulls

Common and Brunnich's Guillemots on Natoa Island

Northwestern Glacier, the Kenai Fjord cruise destination

Harbour Seals in Northwestern Fjord

large white-headed gulls presented particular identification problems and at the time probably weren't given the time they deserved (always something more interesting to look at/for). Looking at the four in full view above the second from left and far right look fairly straight-forward adult Glaucous-winged, the others I'm less sure about

the gull on the left looks closest to a third-summer American Herring Gull

mantle looking much paler here and the bill a little stout although the yellowish eye fits American Herring best

the first-summer has very dark median coverts, too dark for Glaucous-winged? It reminded me of similar aged Slaty-backed Gulls seen in Japan.

e.g. first-summer Slaty-backed Gull, Hokkaido 26 June 2016

heading back out of Northwestern Fjord

Kittlitz's Murrelet in Northwestern Fjord

Bald Eagle on ice in Northwestern Fjord

Rhinocerous Auklets

Fin Whale

going

gone

Mountain Goats

Ancient Murrelets

Steller's Sealions

Pelagic Cormorants

Red-faced Cormorant

the snow-capped backdrop made scenery truly spectacular

Pigeon Guillemot in Resurrection Bay

Viewfinder back in Seward

female Rufous Hummingbird on one of Ava's feeders

Hairy Woodpecker at Ava's

Downy Woodpecker at Ava's Feeders

using its tail as a support

this Pine Grosbeak briefly visited

Pine Siskin in Ava's yard

Steller's Jay in Ava's yard

Varied Thrush in Two Lakes Park

Sooty Fox Sparrow in Seward

Wednesday 19 June. Nick and I met Pete, Alan and Malcolm outside our rooms at 05:30 and walked to Two Lakes Park in about 20 minutes. There we slowly followed the circular trail seeing Brown Creeper and 3 Varied and a Hermit Thrush. We were back at Marina Motel at 07:20 and left at about 07:45. On our way back to Anchorage we made several roadside stops including Bear Lake (brief male Rufous Hummingbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and 3 Boreal Chickadees but no Varied Thrushes that had been common here two weeks earlier), Bear Lake Weir (Bald Eagle, American Dipper), Primrose (2 Pine Grosbeaks and Townsend's Warbler), Turnagain Arm (Varied Thrush in flight), Moose Pass, Tern Lake (Trumpeter Swan and Great Northern Diver families with 3 cygnets and a 'diverling' respectively), Belgua Point (2 American Black Bears) and two sites in/around Hillside Park (female Spruce Grouse with chicks and Chestnut-backed Chickadee but not the hoped for Black-backed Woodpecker). We arrived back at America's Best in Spenard around 18:00. Most of us walked around to the far side of Lake Hood hoping to find a Rusty Blackbird that had been reported from there on eBird. We failed but a pair of breeding plumaged Slavonian Grebes and what we took to be a female Barrow's Goldeneye were decent compensation. Other birds seen during the day were an American Wigeon, 20 Lesser Scaup, 4 Common Goldeneye, Goosander, 2 Wilson's Snipe, Greater Yellowlegs, 20 Short-billed Gulls, 12 Arctic Terns, Golden Eagle, Steller's Jay, 4 Black-billed Magpies, 2 Northwest Crows, 4 Tree, 10 Violet-green and a Cliff Swallow, Black-backed Chickadee, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches, Swainson's Thrush, 11 American Robins, Sooty Fox, 2 Savannah and a Lincoln's Sparrow and 2 Orange-crowned and 2 Myrtle Warblers.