Lynn Barber

My birding today began at the Potter Marsh boardwalk where four Common Ravens were fighting over a salmon carcass. Glaucous-winged Gulls came over to try to get in on the action but then left.

Other birds were going about their business more calmly, including Greater Yellowlegs, Green-winged Teal, Mallards and Black-capped Chickadees.

On the old Seward Highway behind the marsh I was delighted to find a Belted Kingfisher that did not leave but let me actually photograph her for awhile.

I was also delighted to find yet another Solitary Sandpiper, solitary of course, which is a bird I went all the way to Fairbanks to be sure that I got for my Alaska year list. Since then, I’ve seen 2 or 3 more plus today’s bird.

The last bird photographed today was one of the handful of Alder Flycatchers in the marsh area.

Longtime Alaskans have told me that it is significant when the fireweeds have finished blossoming. It means something like summer is over. Some of them are still quite full of blossoms but not all of them…

288 species so far