Lynn Barber

I began and ended the day out at the Anchorage Airport looking for Short-eared Owls. Unfortunately, neither search resulted in a Short-eared Owl sighting.

After my morning birdless watch of about an hour (from 6:45 to 7:45 am) I birded along the road past the airport and did see a few birds, including Common Raven, Black-billed Magpie, Black-capped Chickadee and Northern Shrike.

I then went over to Spenard Crossing, and saw the usual multitude of Mallards, a Black-billed Magpie and a Common Goldeneye.

In the evening I repeated yesterday’s 7-9 pm watch. At least this time I was joined for part of the time by three other birders and had someone to share the vigil with, but they gave up too and left before I did. And importantly, I did actually see a bird in the evening, an owl, on this vigil, just not the owl I sought – a Northern Hawk Owl.

Tomorrow I have other birding plans. I need a break from owling.

123 species so far