American Tree Sparrow

I spent a little time at the airport late this morning between errands. While there, I saw four different American Tree Sparrows, the previous high count I had heard of this winter was three, and the most I had seen at a time was two. Weather today overall was overcast, but the rain held off.

Ice and Fog on Swan Lake

After some windy conditions over the past few days, today was remarkably calm. At least that was the case where I could see. Crescent Bay in particular seemed like glass. Temperatures were warmer, with highs up in the 50s. It did rain, though not hard any time I was out – it was more of … Read more

Count Week Birding

One of the things that is fun to do in the days after Christmas bird count is go look for species that I expect (or know) are around but for whatever reasons did not get reported (as far as I know) on the day of the count. I had some further motivation to get out … Read more

Wood Duck Drake

Yesterday’s most unusual sighting of a previously unreported bird was definitely the Wood Duck seen by F. Tomkins. After a couple tries today, it was refound and I was able to get a photo in the fading light. For those in Sitka, it was seen yesterday and again today on the slow deeper water immediately … Read more

Christmas Bird Count

Today was Christmas Bird Count. Weather was chilly (20s) and fortunately not as breezy as forecast, at least not where I was (though it looked like it was blowing pretty good out of Silver Bay). I didn’t see anything too unusual, the best birds were a Savannah Sparrow and a couple of American Tree Sparrows, … Read more

Old Airport Road Observations

I spent a little time sitting in the car working on a project out at old airport road to see what might be around. I was able to get pictures of both an American Tree Sparrow as well as a Chipping Sparrow. If they can stick around another couple of days, they’ll make it into … Read more