Because my big year planning had called for getting a Northern Hawk Owl on January 1 and because I went to Kodiak instead on January 1st and because I just could not find a Northern Hawk Owl yesterday when I was finally back to Anchorage, today I had to try again for the Hawk Owl first thing. I contacted Louann Feldmann and she agreed to go with me for this bird and whatever else we could get out at Point Campbell and the road there from Point Woronzoff.

The day began wonderfully with a treetop view of the NORTHERN HAWK OWL. We later came back and got a slightly closer view, but not as close as I had seen this bird in December, 2015. Along the same road, we were delighted to also find a NORTHERN SHRIKE also doing the treetop thing after it left the fence where we first saw it.

 

For the next couple of hours, we hiked across the bumpy ice and golden grass and along the icy edge of the water, hearing and occasionally seeing a flock of about 75 Common Redpolls, with probably a few Hoary Redpolls mixed in. Because they were never seen close and well, I decided not to add the latter bird to my year list yet. We also had a small flock of Snow Buntings flying low over the water’s edge. Although we tried to find the previously reported Townsend’s Solitaire, we were not successful in that.

 

We went over to Aaron Bowman’s place, and along with him and his son, Hasan, drove our cars to a small park near the junction of Lake Otis and Tudor streets, where he had previously seen an American Three-Toed Woodpecker. On exactly the same spruce where he had previously seen the bird, we heard the tapping and saw the AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. While we were taking numerous pictures of the woodpecker, I also heard my first of the year RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, a bird long overdue and one of my main yard birds. Of course, since I have not looked out on my yard for more than 1/2 an hour this year, it’s no wonder I had not yet seen one there.

 

Our last try for a bird Aaron had seen recently was off Campbell Airstrip Road where a Spruce Grouse male was apparently on territory. After walking the very icy, hilly trail, we finally got to where he had seen the grouse. It was totally quiet with the only birds being Common Ravens high in the sky heading to their nighttime resting spots. We walked the trails around a trail intersection but nothing. While we were standing at the intersection, I suddenly noticed that a SPRUCE GROUSE was strolling up the trail toward us. The grouse finally got within a couple of feet of us, circled around, pecked at my walking stick that was lying on the ground, repeatedly approaching us clucking all the while. After we had taken many, many pictures (most of which show the back of the bird that we were looking down upon as he walked around our feet), we decided to leave, at which point the grouse started attaching Louann’s legs as she led us up the trail. After we had gone about fifteen feet, we apparently were out of the grouse’s territory and he just watched us leave.

This Alaska big year has been wonderful so far! The birds (and the birders) have been most cooperative, and I am very grateful for all!

This morning’s early flight from Juneau was uneventful except for extreme bumpiness as we started our descent. After picking up my car from airport parking, I went birding even though it was nearly dark out. My goal was the Northern Hawk Owl that has been hanging around the Anchorage airport. This is the bird that I was hoping to start my year with until I changed my plans and went to Kodiak instead of starting the year in Anchorage. Although I spent about an hour wandering around and looking for it, I did not see the Hawk Owl, and in fact did not see any birds at all out there.

Having gotten word recently of a EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE in south Anchorage, I went down there, and after some time surveying neighborhood spruce trees, finally located the dove hiding on a spruce branch. It is good that there was an Anchorage Eurasian Collared-Dove last year so everyone who really wanted one on their Anchorage list had a chance to do so, since this year’s bird is not accessible to the public unfortunately.

After finally getting the dove on my year list, I drove to a north-eastern part of Anchorage where I had done the Anchorage Christmas Bird Count in December because I knew there were many fruit trees and fruit-eating birds there. While the robins were not longer easily found, there were a couple of good-sized flocks of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS still around, and a single DOWNY WOODPECKER. When I got home later, I had another Downy Woodpecker at my suet feeder.

I made one more unsuccessful foray for the Northern Hawk Owl, but did add BOREAL CHICKADEE on my way there.

I watched my feeders a while until it got dark. In addition to the Downy Woodpecker, there were six Pine Grosbeaks and three Common Redpolls filling up before bedtime.

So, four more new year-bird species today. I’m hoping to do some more bird-hunting in the wider Anchorage area in the next couple of days.

I shouldn’t complain. This was only the first day of rainy birding this year, in spite of my being in an area where a rainy winter day is no rarity. All bundled up for the mid-30s windy rainy weather, my boots clad in ice-trekker devices, I birded with two (and for a little while three) other intrepid women birders from Juneau, Laurie Lamm, Bev Agler, and Patty Rose.

The roads and the sidewalks around the Mendenhall Wetlands were treacherous and it was generally a nasty day, but us birders and a few runners, and other nutty hardy Alaskans were out and about as if it was a sunny dry day.

The only new bird for the day was a very briefly seen, mostly silhouetted WESTERN MEADOWLARK in the area near the Mendenhall Wetlands where two of them have been seen sporadically for weeks. It was perched up on a spruce and shortly after being spotted flew down out of sight, never to be seen again, in spite of much looking. I really like to get better views of birds, and ideally, photos, but that is not the way it always goes.

We persevered and drove and walked the icy area as carefully as we could, looking for the meadowlark(s) and for Eurasian Collared-Doves, but only seeing numerous Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Black-billed Magpies, Pacific Loons, Common Mergansers, Mallards, a Belted Kingfisher, Common Ravens, Northwestern Crows, and the usual Mew and Glaucous-winged Gulls. Although for a short while the rain let up, it began again as dusk approached (about 3 pm). After leaving the other birders I drove and walked the area around the Wetlands hoping for a better view of the meadowlark, or perhaps a view of a Eurasian Collared-Dove, but nothing more was visible, and I retired for the day, and for the trip.

 

Tomorrow morning, assuming the planes are flying, I’ll be back in Anchorage. My future schedule right now after that is not clear. I need to check on what’s being seen up that way and how the roads are.

Hoonah, Alaska is a small community on Chichagof Island which is west of Juneau. I would not probably have known of it, except for Amy Courtney’s posts on the Facebook rare bird site and on eBird late in 2015 regarding a Brewer’s Blackbird being seen in her yard. Brewer’s Blackbirds being extremely rare in Alaska I kept track of hers through eBird and was very pleased, to say the least, that it stayed into the new year. As a possible added bonus for going to Hoonah was the Rusty Blackbird (not nearly as rare but not common) that was also coming to her feeder area. Therefore, when I made my plans for where to go in early January, Hoonah was right up there with Juneau and Ketchikan. I was dismayed when my flight to Juneau on Jan. 3rd was cancelled due to fog, which required me to delay my flight from Juneau to Hoonah by 4 days. Would the blackbird stay around?

Today I learned the answer to that. My first-ever flight on a seaplane, from Juneau to Hoonah this morning, was uneventful, very scenic, and quick (about 20 minutes).

When I landed Amy picked me up and we drove to her house. Almost immediately her female RUSTY BLACKBIRD joined the numerous Dark-eyed Juncos (Oregon), the Northwestern Crows, White-crowned Sparrow, GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, Fox Sparrow, and relatively newly arrived in her yard SAVANNAH SPARROW. But no Brewer’s Blackbird. We anxiously scanned the brushy areas between her yard and the water, looked out at the Common Mergansers and Barrow’s Goldeneyes, and fretted.

   

 

About half an hour after my arrival (seemed like more), the female BREWER’S BLACKBIRD joined the others. She had a minor tussle with the Rusty Blackbird and then both of them exited stage right. It is always so good when a trip yields the goal bird!

Amy and I then went birding both north and south of the Hoonah center. I learned of her enthusiasm for and knowledge of birding sites and birds in the area and her plans to start offering short birding tours to this summer’s cruise ship visitors when the ships come into port for their 8-hour visits.

An excellent, worthwhile trip. Maybe Amy will find another good bird there to give me an excuse to take another seaplane trip to Hoonah. Or I guess I could take a cruise.

I was lucky enough to spend the entire day birding with Steve Heinl and as a result the number of new year-birds far exceeded my wildest imaginings.

He picked me up in the wee hours (before 8 am) and we drove south to check out some of the best spots for Brandt’s Cormorants. At Rotary Beach where he’d last seen one, on our second try, we found two BRANDT’S CORMORANTS, one of which was close enough for a crummy photo. Excellent! We also had a couple of WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS.

We headed north to an area where meadowlarks had been seen earlier but were not able to find one. In the same area (North Point Higgins), we visited a local birder’s feeders and just kept getting new birds – a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER visiting a suet feeder, a WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, a few VARIED THRUSHES,  a NORTHERN FLICKER and a LINCOLN’S SPARROW in addition to Song Sparrows, Pine Siskins, Dark-eyed Juncos, Steller’s Jays, European Starlings, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and an Anna’s Hummingbird (plus a Fox Sparrow which I only just barely saw and decided not to count yet).

 

 

We stopped along the road a few places as we went back south to Ketchikan, had lunch and then continued south again. In a roadside yard where there were bushes and feeders, we saw another Lincoln’s Sparrow, and a FOX SPARROW that I actually saw well.

We again stopped periodically along the road as we went south, and I was delighted when Steve spotted two male HOODED MERGANSERS in the water along the road in Saxman. On our way north back to Ketchikan, we took a walk along Ketchikan Creek, looking for and finding an AMERICAN DIPPER, plus Mallards and Green-winged Teal.

About 3:00 in a final attempt for another bird before darkness fell, we went to a Safeway and bought some Cheerios to bring in a few gulls in town. It worked and among all the Glaucous-winged Gulls there was a single Thayer’s Gull! Eleven new species for the day and a wonderful day of birding!

After Ketchikan, I will spend another couple of days in the Juneau area, and if the weather allows, take a quick flight to Hoonah, another place I’ve never been. Those following Alaska rarities will know why to go to Hoonah. For others, wait and see.

I had a short early morning flight from Juneau to Ketchikan and arrived there about 8:30 am. The predawn light over the mountain east of Ketchikan was beautiful to watch as we landed on the island airport. After I picked up my rental car I boarded the car-ferry to get to Ketchikan itself.

Because the road off the ferry required that I head south, I decided to bird south of Ketchikan first to look for (but did not yet find) Brandt’s Cormorants. My first new bird for the year was not too  exciting – a flock of EUROPEAN STARLINGS swirling around above the street as I left the ferry. More appreciated were the MARBLED MURRELETS most of which were swiftly flying low over the water. Some of them did sit on the water as did a modest number of Common Murres. In my search for the cormorants I pulled over every possible place that a car could fit along the road whenever the water was visible. There were a small number of Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants and  also Pacific and Common Loons, Harlequin Ducks, many Common Mergansers and a few Red-neceked Grebes.

After a brief lunch, I headed north of Ketchikan to mostly frozen Ward Lake where Steve Heinl had told me that a Pied-billed Grebe was still hanging around in the decreasing area of open water. With my little rental car I was feeling decidedly nervous on the totally icy road that first went up and then went down, down toward the lake. I was happy to see a few cars by the lake, as I envisioned slipping off the road or being unable to climb back out of the area. I was very happy to see the PIED-BILLED GREBE bobbing along in the narrow stretch of water just beyond a small group of ice skaters.

After returning to the main road I went farther north, stopping wherever there were water overlooks. Way out on the water viewed from Totem Bight State Park, I found my goal, about 40 WESTERN GREBES. Other birds seen in that general area were Red-breasted and Common Mergansers, Surf Scoters, Barrow’s and Common Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, Mallards and the omnipresent Bald Eagles.

When I checked into my motel, I was glad to see that my window looks out on the water. There were many Common Mergansers, Long-tailed Ducks and Surf Scoters amid the gulls on the water but the light was rapidly going so I could not tell if there were any unusual birds out there. Maybe tomorrow.

 

Although I still did not find a Western Meadowlark, today was otherwise an excellent day. In the chilly predawn hours, I walked part of the Dike Trail at the Mendenhall Wetlands and was delighted to have a little flock of COMMON REDPOLLS land next to me along the path. Although I have them in my yard in Anchorage, I can’t get Anchorage birds when I’m not there. (Note: I have decided to capitalize my new birds for the year in this blog so readers can skim for that information and not need to read in detail.)

In the water next to the trail were some diving birds (which I think were there yesterday but I never got around to trying to figure out what they were because they were underwater most of the time). Today I took the time and found that they were PACIFIC LOONS, 3 of them. Later in the day when I returned, there were 7 of them, all busily diving. One of the Great Blue Herons was hunched over the water, looking a bit cold.

 

Late in 2015 I had seen a Facebook post indicating that somewhere in Juneau there was a SPOTTED TOWHEE. I had tried to follow up on the sighting and then forgot about it until I talked to Gus Van Vliet on this trip and he said the towhee was still being seen. He told me which house was hosting the bird, and this morning at about 11:15 I found it hanging out with juncos (mostly the Oregon Dark-eyed Juncos). A HAIRY WOODPECKER tapping away on a dead snag behind the same yard was also new.

About 2:00 I met Gus Van Vliet who took me to some of the Juneau hotspots that I need to know about. Along the way we stopped at some feeders where I got my year CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES. We drove around the Mendenhall or Back Loop area.

Gus spotted a car that he said we needed to follow, which turned out to be driven by Gwen Baluss. We followed her to her house and stayed around her yard for a short time watching her hummingbird feeder, but because it was getting dark, we then left. We hadn’t gone far when Gus got a phone call saying that Gwen’s ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD had just come to the feeder. We made a U-turn, and shortly after we got back to her house, the hummingbird returned.

 

After leaving Gwen and her hummingbird, Gus took me to some more good birding locales before it got completely dark.

Tomorrow in the very early morning I am scheduled to fly to Ketchikan for a couple of days’ birding.

The plan had been to fly to Juneau on the night of the third and I tried to do that. But plane mechanical problems and fog in Juneau meant that the airlines flight was cancelled and we were told to rebook for the next day. After standing in one of the long lines to rebook, I went to baggage claim and got my suitcase, called the shuttle so I could get to my car, and drove home. There I spent much of the next hour talking to rental car and motel people to explain why I was not in Juneau and to change my reservations. I then had to cancel and rebook a seaplane flight to Hoonah where I hope later this week to look for and find the Brewer’s Blackbird that has been there for a while.

This morning I got to the Anchorage airport for my 8 am flight to Juneau and was told there was a chance it wasn’t going, again because of fog, and even if it went, it might not be able to land. Happily, the plane did get to Juneau and circled for only about 20 minutes while the fog cleared enough for landing.

 

Until fog rolled in this afternoon, it was a beautiful blue-sky, snow-capped mountain day. By mid-morning I was out at the Dike Trail at the Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge. I did not (today anyway) find my goal – Western Meadowlarks that apparently have been wintering there, but I was able to add Great Blue Heron to my year list (two of them).

There were very few birds around, other than Bald Eagles, Common Ravens, a distant large flock of Canada Geese, gulls (none of which appeared to be sufficiently interesting to spend time studying), and a couple of Buffleheads. There was a very territorial Song Sparrow that chirped and hopped near me as if irritated by my approach along the trail and a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos.

 

 

As I walked to the end of the trail, I kept scanning for birds, and noted a small bird sitting on a spruce tree top behind me a long way back along the trail where I had walked past. On my return along the trail, I looked for the small bird, and it was still there. I took a distant photo, and it sure looked like a small owl! I love owls and this was very exciting! I kept taking pictures as I approached. The owl appeared to be hunting, and made a couple of short flights from treetop to treetop. I was delighted to see that it was a Northern Pygmy-Owl, a new bird for the year and for my Alaska state list.

 

I’ve got another day tomorrow to search the area. I may also try a little owling in the area tonight and/or tomorrow night.

As darkness descends upon a gray Anchorage day, I realize it is good that I have interesting birding in south-east Alaska to look forward to for the next week. Today’s brief Anchorage stopover between Kodiak and my Juneau trip did not allow time for any birding, what with morning commitments and afternoon must-be-done chores.

In fact, in spite of there being quite a few possibilities just in our yard for adding to my AK year list, I was only able to add one new species to my year list today – Steller’s Jay. I did see my usual Pine Grosbeaks, Common Ravens and flyover Mallards, but the rest of my usual yard birds that could have been year birds were not around at all.

The weather here has been warm 30s and 40s and most of the snow cover is gone in the city (but not on the mountains), so apparently the birds are mostly not feeling the need to visit my feeders. One of the hardest things to learn about big years is that there are doldrums in being able to find new year-birds, even in January, due to the birds and due to where and when you are able to go birding.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a different story. Stay tuned.

My second day on Kodiak Island was another very windy day. Although there were still periodic showers, the heavy rain stopped by about 10:30 and we saw a few glimpses of the sun.

The island continued to produce new birds, most of which were very, very welcome, but not surprising. With the able guidance and aided by the keen hearing of Donna Hurley, I was able to add 12 new species to my year list before it was time to fly back to Anchorage in the late afternoon.

The first new birds seen today at the feeders of a friend of hers were ones that are also quite common around Anchorage – Brown Creeper, Pine Grosbeak, Pine Siskin and Dark-eyed Junco, plus Black-capped Chickadees and Red Crossbills seen yesterday.

After that we headed to the Trident Basin floatplane facility where there was a flock of about 17 Black Oystercatchers, a handful of Pelagic Cormorants, a Pigeon Guillemot, and our first Black-legged Kittiwake of the day, in addition to other ducks already seen.

 

Way across Buskin Lake we saw two Redheads in a flock with other ducks. There were large flocks of Greater Scaup on the lake as well as both goldeneyes. The spruce trees in that area produced a few Golden-crowned Kinglets that called and flitted across the road, and a long-tailed Sharp-shinned Hawk came nearly over us and disappeared into a spruce grove slightly up a  nearby hill.

At another area of the lake was a huge flock (175-200) Green-winged Teal and a couple of Northern Pintails.

At our last stop in the gray, low visibility afternoon was a distant mixed gull flock, with a couple of very small mystery gulls with pinkish legs. A chattery Pacific Wren was my last new bird of the day.

In a little under 24 hours I will be beginning a trip to Juneau, Ketchikan and Hoonah – looking for new birds of course!