Lynn Barber's Birding Blog

One of the wonderful things about Alaska birding, and one of the hardest to get used to, is the presence of Bald Eagles nearly everywhere. This morning I ended up doing mostly “drive-by” birding, from Anchorage down to Portage Glacier and back. Although I had intended to do some walking on trails down near the glacier, when I got there it was raining very hard, so I just turned around and drove back. The closer I got to Anchorage the more blue sky there was.

In fact, I saw very few birds today. I had gone 30 miles this morning before I saw my first bird for the drive, a Bald Eagle. After another 22 miles I had my next bird, another Bald Eagle. On the way back a few more Bald Eagles had appeared, three of which were beautifully posed against scenic backgrounds. There were also a few Common Ravens, a trio of Common Merganser males on a melted pond area along the highway, and a few Black-capped Chickadees at a stop.

I took a late afternoon walk at Hilltop Park in Anchorage, hoping that I might find White-winged Crossbills in some of the many spruce trees. Although it is possible that I heard one, I never was certain and did not see it. I did see and hear a couple of noisy flocks of Boreal Chickadees. My last bird sighting on this beautiful afternoon walk was a Sharp-shinned Hawk coasting overhead while I was on my cell phone planning birding for tomorrow. There’s always another day to find a new bird.