Lynn Barber's Birding Blog

No new birds today but another enjoyable crisp beautiful day anyway – blue skies and distant mountain views.

I spent the morning looking for a possible Evening Grosbeak that had been seen yesterday in Anchorage, but as far as I know no one saw it today, certainly not me. After that I did an extended drive through downtown looking for the Peregrine Falcon again, but again even the pigeons it had been harassing when others saw it a couple of days ago were nowhere in evidence.

To satisfy my need for seeing something, I drove down Garden Street in Anchorage where the two main bird feeding yards were still covered with American Robins and Bohemian Waxwings, mainly dining in and under the fruit trees.

When I returned home in late afternoon, I saw a Northern Shrike a block from our house, and as I drove toward our house, the shrike preceded me and landed in a tree in our backyard, the second time I had ever seen one for our yard list. Pine Grosbeaks, Black-capped Chickadees and more Bohemian Waxwings were visiting our yard for their evening meals, and Common Ravens were flying overhead to their evening roosts and I had to accept the fact that I had not seen any new year-birds for the day.

Tomorrow’s another day.

Note: I intend to write in this blog every day that I go birding this year, whether or not I see any new birds, so I expect that messages similar to the above will happen often.