I birded this morning with Patty Rose in Juneau. It was cold for Juneau, 18 degrees, said my rental car. The tree branches were still snow-covered from a previous snow and by early afternoon when I flew back to Anchorage, it was snowing again.
We first checked the location where Long-eared Owls have been seen in the past, but we only had Common Ravens, a Black-billed Magpie, a Northern Shrike and Bald Eagles.
We then drove a neighborhood near the airport to look for flocks, but found few birds.
At the Mendenhall Wetland dike trail, we only walked a short distance due to time constraints and the fact that it still felt cold even though it was not windy. Again, birds were few – a couple Mallards, a flitting about flock of White-winged Crossbills and my favorite – a Short-eared Owl over the wetlands.
We had an early lunch with Gus Van Vliet, who suggested that I post a list of birds that I still needed for my big year, so I will do an additional post with that information shortly.
307 species so far
Lynn Barber's Birding Blog 