Lynn Barber's Alaska Big Year – and Beyond

Because of my cold and my not wanting to share my germs with rooms full of people or my doctor, I did not go to church or a meeting today and I am not going to my doctor tomorrow. But because of my cold, that freed me up to go birding, which I did. Last night I made reservations to go to Juneau where a second Palm Warbler was reported yesterday, found by Amy Courtney and then seen by Gus Van Vliet, and reported yesterday by both of them. It was a beautiful flight. I took pictures out the window and drank liquids to keep myself from coughing.

I arrived in Juneau about 9:30 this morning, and arranged with Amy and Gus to meet them at the Palm Warbler site, Rotary Park, where I had not birded before. The roads had about 5 inches of new snow, which was still coming down, so I had to drive a bit slowly in spite of my eagerness to get there.

The two of them and I, along with Patty Rose (who I believe had found the earlier Palm Warbler in Juneau) tromped through the falling snow looking and listening. The pictures below show Gus, me and Amy, and Patty and Gus.

Not too long after I arrived, I saw Gus beckoning us to come to where he had just found the bird. When I arrived, there it was, a PALM WARBLER, along with a Yellow-rumped Warbler pal. Both warblers flitted about, often low to the ground, in bushes along the edge of the park pond.

I really did not believe it earlier this year when people such as Gus, along with Aaron Lang and Steve Heinl, had said that 300 bird species were possible in an Alaskan big year, but that is the case. Although there are more than two months left in the year, however, there are very few likely birds that I could add this year, but if they are out there, I will keep trying to add them to my year list!

300 species so far!