Steve Heinl and I birded the location out at Herring Cove where the Swamp Sparrow has been seen. It was a beautiful morning again with an actual sunrise sneaking between the clouds.
The vegetation was covered with beautiful ice crystals, which glistened when the sun hit them.
We were there for a couple of hours in the morning and then in the afternoon I went back. Again it was birdy, but we wandered off to a nearby area to bird for a short while, during which time Jim Lewis got the day’s only sighting of the Swamp Sparrow. He also saw the Spotted Towhee again, which I saw later today too.
Other birds there were the usual Dark-eyed Juncos, a Northern Flicker (red-shafted), Steller’s Jays and a Varied Thrush, in addition to the birds out on the water. Some of the birds that were photographed were being seen through a fence at the edge of the parking lot, which can be seen in some of the pictures.
Towards town from Herring Cove, we saw a Brandt’s Cormorant, which was quite close to shore until it saw us and flew farther out. In the various brushy areas we had more juncos, Song Sparrows and a singing White-crowned Sparrow. The most surprising bird was a late Hermit Thrush on the grass along the road.
Tomorrow we’ll wander some more around Ketchikan and probably give the Swamp Sparrow another chance to allow itself to be photographed.
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