Winter, that is. This morning began with rain, cold rain, often heavy. By mid-morning, little snow flakes were coming down but melting on the ground. Even by 1:00 there was still not much snow on the ground up in central Anchorage, but down at our house (in the coldest part of Anchorage), the snow has stayed, and we’ve even had to shovel the porches. There will be more, undoubtedly much more before anything resembling spring occurs, but right now, it’s rather exciting to see the snow.
There were four unhappy-looking American Robins (or that’s how they appeared to me) in the deciduous trees on one side of our yard.
On the other side of our yard, our neighbor’s spruce trees look just like Christmas.
Tomorrow, I fly to Nome for my last scheduled trip for the year. I’m scheduled to give a talk there on Friday night about my Alaska big year (2016). Nome’s temperatures have been fairly similar to ours lately, but I don’t know what their snow situation is now. Depending on what birds are around in late October/early November (I’m curious whether any McKay’s Buntings, which winter in Nome, are there yet), I may come back for a quick trip in December to complete my year of checking out Nome’s birds. Spoiler alert: I’m having so much fun exploring Nome, I’m thinking of continuing this self-defined project next year. Stay tuned.
Lynn Barber's Birding Blog 