GBBC Birding

Yesterday’s rain transitions to more convective showers today. Temperatures fell and the snow level dropped accordingly to 1000 feet or less. Between showers I had a couple of good looks at sun and blue sky this afternoon.

I spent my outside time birding for the great backyard bird count.

This included stops at Sawmill Cove, Swan Lake, and Starrigavan (the alliteration was unplanned).

I headed out between showers and started by going to Sawmill Cove.

Given the 15 minute requirement for the bird count, I stayed longer than I would have otherwise been inclined. The usual suspects were present, but nothing especially close to the dock.

At Swan Lake I counted 18 Trumpeter Swans and estimated over 150 Mallards. Most of the latter flew off while I was watching. I suspect the Wood Duck went with them before I had a chance to see her. I know the three or four American Wigeons and female Eurasian Wigeon did, as I saw them take off.

I’m not sure what caused the ducks to fly off. A paddle boarder was slowly going around the lake. However, they took off when the paddle boarder was still on the far side. The ducks on that side and towards the upper end took off as they presumably became uncomfortable with the approach of a person paddling along.

At Starrigavan things were quiet. A lone Mallard and Gadwall were the only dabbling ducks I spotted. It may be that some of the swans which spent much of the winter in/around the estuary have started north, but I think the bulk of them are at Swan Lake. I have not checked Totem Park lately, so I don’t know if there are additional swans there. It’s also possible they’ve gone to other area lakes which are now open.

I was amused to see a raven land on a car that had turned around and was pulling off to park on the side of the road.

As the car parked, several other ravens flew up. A total of 21 came in when some food was left at the side of the road. The car drove off, and the ravens gathered to eat.

I’m assuming this car has come often enough before that the ravens were already familiar with it, and expecting food. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a raven land on a moving car before, though.

This evening I spent time working on a page about identifying cormorants. It’s intended to be a start to a series of pages (and perhaps eventually something in book form) making up a guide to the birds of Sitka.

I also worked on tweaking a new version of the gallery software I use for this site. It has some quirks and a couple of things I might prefer to be a little different, but overall I think it’s better than what I’ve been using.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today