I took an earlier flight today back to Anchorage than originally scheduled, so I only birded a few hours in Barrow this morning. This post also covers a bit of birding that I did last night after yesterday’s post. On both occasions, there was very little ice visible from the ground (first picture below). But when I was in the plane flying out of Anchorage, the vast expanse of ice could be seen off to the west (as viewed from above: brown land, bluish water, distant white ice, not clouds, in second picture below).
Last night I decided to go out to the point, where gulls are numerous in winter, to see if any gulls, or anything else happened there late in the day. Of course it was still bright and sunny at 10:30 pm, but you never know. I got to see flocks of Common Murres flying past, which I had not seen during the day.
Before heading to bed, I also drove up a short road near water where some Glaucous Gulls were perched. No other gulls were there, but did find a Pacific Loon on a nest on the nearby shore.
This morning as usual there were Long-tailed Ducks in many of the ponds.
On the way to the point there was a single female King Eider where I had seen one earlier in the week. Out at the point there were flocks of eiders going by. As far as I could tell they were all King Eiders, nearly 100% males.
For at least a couple of days I plan to bird in the Anchorage area. Anybody know the location of any rarities needing chasing? I do have a few ideas on that but as always welcome suggestions.
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