Lynn Barber's Alaska Big Year – and Beyond

That’s what my husband suggested as a title for this post when I asked him for ideas. It’s hard to believe that nearly a month has gone by this year. The good news is that there still are a lot of birding days to come this year, so I’m not overly disappointed that today was another day without a new bird. Because I had a number of chores and errands today (including writing my regular biweekly post for the ABA blog), I really didn’t spend much time birding, just a walk along the trails near the Campbell Tract Science Center in Anchorage. It was another beautiful rather Christmas-y day, with snow and frost clinging to branches. There were only a few bird species on the walk – Black-capped and Boreal Chickadees and Common Ravens, but it was pleasant and warm for a January day in Anchorage (just above freezing).

Our yard was more birdy, with the usual Pine Grosbeaks, both Chickadee species, Dark-eyed Juncos, Steller’s Jays, and Common Redpolls. The yard highlight of the day was our first Common Raven at our feeder. He landed on the porch railing and proceeded to demolish a suet block, repeatedly gulping down huge quantities of yummy fat as he towered over the feeder.