Until I looked at my calendar about 3:30 this afternoon, I thought that the first night of my Homer motel reservation was tomorrow. I was thinking that my plan was to drive down on Thursday morning, but instead when I realized that I had the motel reserved tonight, I did a mad packing, including our dog, and was on the road by about 4 pm today. So I am now in Homer.
This morning’s birding in Anchorage began at Ship Creek and the small boat harbor. I was delighted to find a Killdeer, my second sighting of one in Anchorage since I moved here in 2014. Other than that there were the usual American Wigeons, Green-winged Teal and Canada Geese on the mud flats at Ship Creek.
After that I went to the Chester Creek Trail near Westchester Lagoon to await the high tide and see what it might bring in. In addition to the usual gulls and terns (Arctic), there were a couple of Hudsonian Godwits, a couple of dowitchers and a Semipalmated Plover.
At Potter Marsh, which seems be my obligatory nearly daily stop lately, there were also a couple of Short-billed Dowitchers in addition to various ducks, a couple of Sandhill Cranes, and the very tame Tree Swallows, too photogenic to pass by.
Tomorrow it’s Homer birding, hopefully to add some shorebirds at least.
170 species so far
Lynn Barber's Birding Blog 