Even Nat Drumheller thought it was more rainy-nasty out than it should be and he lives and birds in Gustavus. Yesterday after my flight from rainy Juneau (picture below) landed in rainy Gustavus, although I did make myself wander down to the shore in the rain to look for shorebirds at sites that Nat had told me about, I did not find any shorebirds to add to my year-list.

My main goal in coming to Gustavus, however, was Barred Owl and I spent over 6 hours not seeing or hearing one at the site where they have nested in previous years and where they are periodically heard. Sort of hidden in the picture below is the snag where they have nested in years past and possibly are currently nesting, however you can’t prove it by me. Although Nat heard one short sound from them in the wee hours after I had finally retired to the Annie Mae lodge around midnight, no owls were heard or seen by either of us today as we valiantly birded some more in the driving rain.

My birding trip to Gustavus was saved by Nat’s helping me see a SEMIPALMATED SANDPPER among the many Least and Western Sandpipers that scurried about in the blowing downpour. Although we nearly gave up birding a couple of times rather than attempt slogging into the wind and rain, we continued to check possible owl spots and birded the shore and ponds. Finally on a shore hike, we found two wet WHIMBRELS. Instead of letting up, the rain and wind just grew, which made my flight back to Juneau on the little 5-passenger plane one of the bumpiest that I have been on. But the pilot got us to Juneau and to Juneau’s rain without problem.

 

I did do some birding in Juneau this afternoon and evening. The rain actually stopped every now and then and the sun was seen. The only bird of note was a breeding plumaged Horned Grebe. I understand that it is getting late for them to still be here.

Tomorrow midday, after some morning birding, I fly back to Anchorage and try to dry out a bit after a week of rainy birding, and of course, bird some more.

168 species so far

No new birds today. Because the weather was actually sometimes sunny in Juneau today and there were not long periods of rain, the lack of new birds wasn’t as dismal as it might have been if I had been suffering in the rain all day. In fact as it became clear that I was unlikely to find something new (although I did keep birding all day), I found that I was just enjoying the birding and almost letting go of the need to get a new bird. The world was green and growing and blooming and springlike, and I actually relaxed and took pictures for fun.

I did get some pictures of birds that I had seen before but had not been able to photograph. I was particularly delighted to find an American Kestrel at the wetlands across the river from the Mendenhall Wetlands (accessible off Industrial Blvd). I spent a number of hours there a couple of times today. My first sighting of a kestrel this year was on the road into Delta Junction but the bird was high in the sky attacking a Common Raven and not easily photographed.

I also got closer views and pictures of Hudsonian Godwits at Mendenhall Wetlands. For a while I thought that I also had a Marbled Godwit, but it was apparently a male Hudsonian Godwit not yet in full breeding plumage. Most of them were bright and rusty colored.

Other birds seen and photographed today included Greater Yellowlegs, Belted Kingfisher, mixed sandpiper flocks (Least, Western, Dunlin), White-fronted Geese, Yellow-rumped and Townsend’s Warblers and Song Sparrow.

Tomorrow midday I fly to Gustavus where I understand it will be raining heavily. Hopefully I’ll be able to see birds, particularly new birds, through the rain.

166 species so far

This morning I flew from Juneau to Ketchikan, and by 8:00 I was on the road north to a yard where Steve Heinl told me Band-tailed Pigeons were being fed. As I drove into the yard I saw BAND-TAILED PIGEONS fly away. I decided to wait in my car (in the rain) to see if they would come back and allow a photo. While I waited a pair of Rufous Hummingbirds came to a feeder, a Northern Flicker called, a Steller’s Jay scolded me, and Dark-eyed Juncos hopped on the ground. Eventually Common Ravens landed in a nearby tree and came down to a driveway behind a building and then I could see the pigeons also coming back and landing out of sight. Finally one of them landed in a tree and let me take its picture.

Just before 10 am I drove to Ward Lake to see what might be around. As I turned on to the road in to the lake I heard a TOWNSEND’S WARBLER and finally got to see it so I could be sure that was what it was.

At the lake were more Townsend’s Warblers, Pacific Wrens, Least Sandpipers, a Greater Yell0wlegs, Song and G0lden-crowned Sparrows and a Golden-crowned Kinglet. Far out over the lake were swallows, m0stly difficult to identify at first until some of them came a little closer. I concluded that there were about 15 TREE SWALLOWS, 5 VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, and 2 BARN SWALLOWS. Later when Steve Heinl and I came back to the lake at first there were no swallows at all, but when they finally returned, he agreed that the same three species were present. He also pointed out the call of a distant HERMIT THRUSH.

Steve had to leave about 3, but before he did he told me that a White-winged Crossbill was being seen at Jerry Koerner’s house, where we had birded in January. So, I spent about 2 hours this afternoon looking at the birds in the spectacular yard but the crossbill did not show. I did see many Pine Siskins, a Northern Flicker, Golden-crowned, White-crowned and Savannah Sparrows. Dark-eyed (Oregon) Juncos, Varied Thrushes and American Robins. I plan to try to go back there tomorrow.

I spent some time before getting some supper looking at gulls near the Coast Guard Stati0n. They were mostly Mew and Bonaparte’s Gulls and not any rarities, but the day as a whole was very good birding with not much rain.

161 species so far