I’ve not birded as much as usual lately due to rain and manuscript rewriting and other commitments. On Saturday (8/12) I did spend some time at Potter Marsh, where Great Yellowlegs were the predominant bird. There were also a number of Wilson’s Snipe flying around and sitting down next to the water every now and then.
Although they were not doing anything spectacular, I took a video of a few Green-winged Teal that were dabbling in the water.
Today I drove up Arctic Valley Road. Although it started out quite cloudy, by the time I got to the top there was some blue sky.
For the first couple of miles the number of bears equaled the number of birds (2 each), but eventually there was a small number of each of 17 species. Highlights along the road were a Varied Thrush hidden in a berry bush and a small flock of Gray Jays.
I walked up the trail at the end of the road for a while. There were about ten berry pickers up there. I munched a few blueberries too and got pictures of a Fox Sparrow, a Wilson’s Warbler, and a White-crowned Sparrow before heading back to my car.
I also spent some time photographing flowers and other vegetation along the path.
At home the Pine Siskins are becoming more numerous, with over 20 around much of the time now, eating at my numerous feeding areas. There are up to 10 Dark-eyed Juncos eating feed too, and of course always Steller’s Jays. Most of the jays are either scruffy-looking juveniles or scruffy-looking molting adults. At least three of the jays are becoming quite accustomed to eating out of my hand but they prefer to get peanuts out of the jar that we have fastened to the porch (note: all that stuff in the background of the jay video is in our neighbors’ yard, not ours).
The highlight this afternoon was Sandhill Cranes calling as they flew high over our house. I believe that I hadn’t had any for our Anchorage yard list before these.
Lynn Barber's Birding Blog 