Today, in addition to a bit of actual backyard birding, I went to Campbell Creek Estuary Natural Area and to Ship Creek in Anchorage. The highlight of Campbell Creek was a very distant flock of Snow Buntings out on the snow-covered mudflats. With effort the birds could sometimes be vaguely seen without binoculars but with binoculars the black and white patterns could be seen, especially when a bird flew a short distance.
There were also Bohemian Waxwings and Common Redpolls flying over, Pine Grosbeaks, Black-billed Magpies, Black-capped Chickadees, a Common Raven, Steller’s Jays and at least one noisy Brown Creeper (noisy for creepers anyway). Photos of the latter two species are below:
At Ship Creek there were similar birds (no Snow Buntings) plus two American Dippers, one of which was just sitting on the edge and singing loudly. It was a nice day and snow was melting so maybe it thought it was spring.
I am glad that the combination of the nicer weather today and my desire to contribute to the Great Backyard Bird Count got me out to see some great birds.
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