Inspired in part by a desire to maintain daily streaks on e-bird and iNaturalist and new equipment I got at the beginning of the year, I got out each day of the year. I took more photos than in 2021 than any prior year and made nearly 1600 bird observations on iNaturalist (each observation has at least one photo).

I finished the year with 179 species (e-bird) in the Sitka area with photos of 177 species and four hybrids (I missed photos of Red Crossbills and White-winged Crossbills). This easily eclipsed my previous best year (161 in 2012).

My Top 12 Favorite Bird Photos of 2021

I had a more difficult time than last year narrowing things down to a reasonable number of favorites (given the 45 honorable mentions photos, arguably I didn’t manage it!).

I gradually pared down the 300+ images I selected in an initial pass. After separating some out into honorable mention categories, I finally settled on twelve to include here as my favorites of the year.

Photos are sorted by date. Click on any thumbnail to enlarge.

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Honorable Mention – New this Year

One of these years I won’t see a new bird species.

This was not that year.

With a late July trip offshore and some rare birds in town, I boosted my species list by eight.

There was one first record for Sitka, two species were reported for only the second time, and a third made only its third appearance. In addition to new species, I filled out my photo list with Leach’s Storm-Petrel. I’ve now photographed all 234 species I’ve observed in Alaska (231 of those around Sitka).

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Eurasian Green-winged Teal – It won’t count as a new species for my checklist, but it was nice to see one of these for the first time at Swan Lake in April.

Yellow-headed Blackbird – A call from J. Cedarleaf about an unusual bird at the airport on June 30th turned out to be a Yellow-headed Blackbird. Only the second record for Sitka.

Northern Fulmar – Several stopped by and followed our boat on a July 31st birding trip to the continental shelf off Sitka Sound. A common pelagic species that just requires an opportunity to get out that far.

Pomarine Jaeger – I was in the bow of the boat on our offshore birding trip when I heard Connor call from the stern about a jaeger in the distance. I took pictures of the far off bird, and was somewhat surprised to find it was identifiable. Thanks to long glass and high resolution digital sensors. Without those, this would have remained a mystery bird for me. Probably an uncommon migrant offshore. It was nice to get even this distant look.

Black-footed Albatross – I had fun taking pictures of the many Black-footed Albatross that we observed on the July 31st pelagic trip. I had a hard time picking one photo for this post, but there are many more on my photojournal trip report. Also a common pelagic species that is not hard to find if you can get out where they are.

Lesser Black-backed Gull – August 11th Dave Sonneborn was in town for part of the day and we went birding. With well over 400 species in the state, he’s no stranger to finding rare birds. In this case, we were checking the gulls in the channel when a dark-mantled gull swam to the shore right in front of us. My first thought was Slaty-backed Gull, but then I noticed it had yellow legs. Dave informed me that meant Lesser Black-backed Gull. A first for Sitka. Read more about the sighting in my photojournal.

Gray Catbird – Brian D. and his family are new to birding (inspired by watching The Big Year). He reported a robin-sized gray bird making cat-like calls by his house as dark was falling on September 6th. I was out at first light the next morning and managed poor photos before getting much better looks later in the morning. It spent only one or two more days at this location before moving to Karen J. where it was joined by a second Gray Catbird and stayed for another couple of weeks. The third and fourth records for Sitka.

Ruff – Andrew T. messaged me about an unusual looking large shorebird out on the flats at Totem Park. It turned out to be a tired Ruff, the second record for Sitka. (David K. saw the first back in May 1990 and this one.) It continued into the next day before departing.

Short-tailed Shearwater – Although I added this species to my list this year, in looking into shearwater ID, I am pretty sure I had previously seen and photographed some back in 2019. I had just incorrectly assumed they were Sooty Shearwaters.

Leach’s Storm-Petrel – A big blow overnight October 1-2 made for some nice birding on the October 2nd. I had previously seen this species flying at night, but no photos. I saw several near the shore that morning. Although the Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels continued to show on the waterfront for many more days, but I didn’t see any more Leach’s Storm-Petrels after late morning. Read more about the post-storm birding in my photojournal.

Honorable Mention – Unusual Sightings

Although these are reasonably nice photos of unusual birds for Sitka (and generally represent improvements on previous pictures), they did not quite make the cut for my favorites of the year.

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• Thick-billed Murres are not so unusual out at St. Lazaria. This is on the list because the picture was taken while sitting in my car at the dock in Silver Bay.
• Brambling made 2020’s list, and the same bird stayed through into March to make the 2021 unusual species highlights as well.
• Fox Sparrow (red form), only the second or third one I’ve seen here. Our typical birds are much darker brown.
• Townsend’s Solitaire, the second one I’ve ever seen. After first being reported some blocks away, this one spent a couple weeks in my yard eating seaberries.
• One of a couple Mountain Bluebirds in Sitka in spring 2021. This was the first bright blue male I’ve seen. As best I can tell, there are still only around 10 reports from Sitka.
• Sabine’s Gulls are probably fairly common in the outer part of Sitka Sound and beyond. This is only the second time I’ve seen one from shore. It spent a few days in the channel, and cooperated for some nice shots.
• A Mallard X Northern Pintail hybrid showed up on Swan Lake for an afternoon. Only the second one I’ve seen
• Always drawing attention from birds and birders alike, a Snowy Owl was content to remain perched under a tree while crows and ravens periodically mobbed from above and several Sitkans observed from nearby.

Honorable Mention – Birds in Action

Subtitle: Feathers, Fur, Food, Fight, and Flight. A set of photos of birds doing things birds do.

With new equipment and advanced autofocus providing a big assist this year, I ended up with many more photos of birds in action than I have in the past. Maybe with more time and experience, I’ll become more discriminating in choosing favorites, but I had trouble narrowing things down further this year, which prompted this new honorable mention category.

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Honorable Mention – Portraits

I appreciated the opportunity to take portrait-like photos of several more birds this year.

Honorable Mention – Birds in Place

Photos which are less about the bird, and more about the bird in an environment.

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I am someone who is interested in knowing and keeping track of what shows up in Sitka. Gulls can be abundant around town during some times of year. Thousands often loaf along the tide flats, work the salmon streams, or pick scraps from the fishing industry.

The vast majority of gulls we see here are one of three species and one hybrid. We also see smaller numbers of a handful of other species.

I do not really have the patience to consistently sit and study the gulls that are around, but I am interested in seeing unusual birds. One strategy I’ve practiced is looking for individuals that stand out from the flock in some way. What it means to ‘stand out’ is relative, and depends on how much effort I’m inclined to give it on a given day.

A dark mantle is a difference I always look for. None of our regularly occurring species have very dark mantles. So any dark-mantled gull is going to be relatively rare, and I’ve found them relatively easy to pick out from the crowd.

While birding with David Sonneborn who was visiting earlier this month, I noticed gulls in the channel, so we stopped to take a look.

As usual for this time of year, most of the gulls were Short-billed Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls. It also appeared there were some Iceland (Thayer’s) Gulls and Cook Inlet (Glaucous-winged X Herring) Gulls starting to show up.

Most of the gulls were out in the channel, but a few were along the shore in front of us. We happened to notice one coming in that had a distinctly darker mantle.

Over the years the dark-mantled gulls I’ve seen have almost all been Slaty-backed Gull or Western Gull, and this one did not seem bulky enough for a Western Gull. Without giving it a lot of study in the moment, we decided this one was a Slaty-backed Gull. I took some photos before it flushed with the other gulls as an eagle flew over.

Taking pictures as it flew, I was able to track it as it flew a big loop and came back to shore. This time it landed on the shore and I noticed it had yellow legs. When I mentioned this to David, he told me it would be a Lesser Black-backed Gull in that case. This is a species that I’ve never seen before, and not something I was looking for (nor would I have known what it was – just that it was not something I had seen before).

Lesser Black-backed Gulls have been seen in Southeast Alaska previously. One returned to Juneau annually where it nested (I think with Herring Gulls) for the better part of two decades. More recently, one was observed in Hoonah last fall. As far as I know, these are the only previous records from the region.

I texted some local folks about it, but unfortunately it flushed again with the other gulls before anyone else had arrived. This time it flew off to the northwest end of the channel.

After checking the upper end of the channel, David and I came back to the central part to watch in case the gull returned.

David noticed a darker mantled gull closer to the far side of the channel. It did not seem quite as dark as the Lesser Black-backed Gull. David pointed out that it had a relatively heavy and bright yellow bill, so wondered if it might be an Olympic or possibly Western Gull.

It came as close to us as the middle of the channel, and I was able to get distant photos of it in flight and landing, but nothing especially detailed. The next day, what I believe is the same bird was observed by KJ more closely.

I am not an expert with gulls by any means, but I do try to puzzle them out a bit (and then ask for help).

With the photos (including the ones in KJ’s iNaturalist observation), it seems clear this is either a Western Gull or a Western X Glaucous-winged (Olympic) Gull hybrid. The significantly darker mantle, heavy yellow bill, and pink legs all lead me in that direction.

The bird is not quite in full adult plumage. There is a little bit of black on its tail (seen most easily in the linked iNaturalist observation). Also, the outer three primaries are still uniformly dark.

While the bird is distinctly darker mantled than the other gulls, I’m not sure if it’s dark enough for Western Gull to be a reasonable call as opposed to the hybrid. I would be happy to hear from others their thoughts.

Olympic/Western Gull Photos

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There was eventually additional good news on the Lesser Black-backed Gull. Five days later DK spotted the it out at Starrigavan. This time it was much more cooperative, spending about 2 hours on the incoming tide, mostly resting and preening.

Update: Found again on 25 August out on the flats at Totem Park in with many hundreds of other gulls.

Lesser Black-backed Gull Photos

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Today was sunny and warm, but cooler than past couple of days. Perhaps this was due in part to the off and on marine layer.

I was up early (for me) to get down to the harbor for a planned pelagic trip with A Whale’s Song Expeditions. The sun was shining over town, but I could see a dense marine layer over the waters of the sound.

We departed shortly after 7am and it did not take long for us to get out into the fog. It was a little strange being underway with so little visibility. Chart plotters and radar make this much less dangerous than it might have been in the past, but it is still disorienting.

By the time we neared Cape Edgecumbe, the fog had thinned a bit. We passed through thicker and thinner patches of fog as we continued out towards the shelf.

Connor had done a little online research in preparation for this trip and learned that an often effective way of drawing in pelagic birds is to put fish scraps in an onion (mesh) bag, and drape it over the side so it hangs just a bit into the water.

Further distant we saw something that we thought was a whale at the time. In hindsight, I wonder if it might have been another shark, as it didn’t really act like most whales I’m used to seeing. In the end, it will remain a mystery.

The Black-footed Albatross were not shy about coming near the boat, nor about going after food that another had already laid claim to.

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Somewhat surprisingly we saw no shearwaters during the trip.

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Looking at the GPS track when I got home, I was a little surprised to see where we had ended up going. I was almost tempted to think the map was wrong, but I’m sure it wasn’t. We had intended to go due west from Cape Edgecumbe to the edge of the shelf where it comes closest to land 8 miles out. We actually went Southwest and ended up about 20 miles due west of Biorka Island.

A bit thanks to Neil McDermott (A Whale’s Song Expeditions owner and captain) for being generous with his boat and time, and getting us out there to see the birds!

On the land again, I had the feeling I was still on the boat. I took a nap at home which helped alleviate that symptom.

All in, I took over 900 photos. I’ll certainly edit those down significantly over time. [By the time I’m publishing this in January 2022, I worked things down to a bit over 300. I’m including 100 with this post, though may add and/or remove some later if I get around to reviewing further]

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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Forecast for the next couple of days has heavy rain, with a possibility of breaking the record for rainfall for the date on Thursday (set all the way back in 2020).

I walked down to the park this morning to check for moths and birds. I did not have a lot of time before my mid-morning call, but was glad I went when I found a northern thalopaga (Thalophaga hyperborea). It’s a familiar species though I haven’t found one every year. In addition, there was a Pearsall’s carpet moth (Venusia pearsalli) and small engrained (Ectropis crepuscularia), both new for the year.

The tide was well out, and I did not have time to walk out to the water.

I did hear Black Turnstones, but did not see any shorebirds flying. A few Least Sandpipers were at the upper part of the beach along with many pipits.

There were some ducks around, but not nearly as many as last week and even into the weekend.

Starrigavan was quiet (at least from the car) – the tide was up, so there could have been things up in the estuary grasses which we missed.

I walked down to look at the beach near the mouth of Granite Creek. A few dabbling ducks nearshore, but no shorebirds that I noticed.

I saw a post to the Sitka Birds group about many shorebirds at the park, so made another late after noon trip down there.

By this time the rain was falling, but hadn’t been for long enough to get things wet under the forest canopy. Fortunately, while I was out on the beach, the rain let up a little bit.

It’s possible many or most of the birds were on the flats this morning while the tide was out. However, I suspect I would have heard more chattering than I did, plus some birds in flight if they had been there.

Yesterday I noted the air felt chilly despite the relatively warm temperature. This morning when I was out, it felt less chilly to me although the temperature was actually several degrees cooler. I think part of it may have due to a contrast between the felt warmth of the sun and the relatively cooler air. Today there was no warmth of the sun to contrast.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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Since the first report of 9 birds by Karen J. in late December on the Christmas bird count, there have been regular sightings along the roadside beyond Whale Park.

The birds are moving between the cliffs on the upland side of the road, the gravel patches along either side of the road, and the riprap embankment leading down to the water. They are not always in the area, but it’s not clear where else they may be spending time.

Reported numbers since the initial report vary, but have been as high as 40 birds. The birds are in constant motion and do not always stay as a single large flock, so it can be difficult to get an accurate count (my personal high count is the 35 I was able to get in a single photo).

Of particular interest to me were at least a couple of the interior subspecies (tephrocotis), which have brown cheeks, rather than the full gray hood of the coastal subspecies (littoralis).

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches nest at high elevations around Sitka, and I have seen flocks of 20-30 or more on Bear Mountain the fall, but prior to this winter, I am aware of only a handful of sea level reports from Sitka.

Marge Ward told me about seeing one on Alice Island, and two out along the road to Herring Cove, both sightings in the winter. Marge and Marlys Tedin’s records show a December record from the mid-1980s, a January report from the mid-1990s, and a March sighting from the late 1990s. There is also an August report from 1999 which may have been from Harbor Mountain.

Since I started paying attention in the early 2000s, I’m aware of two reports, one on the 2013 Christmas Bird Count at Herring Cove, and another winter sighting in the Verstovia Street neighborhoods (but I don’t remember the year).

Elsewhere in Southeast Alaska, this species is expected to nest at higher elevations, but at low elevations is most often found in winter or early spring on the northern mainland, but even there is not seen annually. (See the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch entry in the winter 2012-2013 sub-regional summary for more.)

Yesterday I received a text from someone I know locally asking me if I was interested in taking some visiting birders out to go for the Rustic Bunting. I didn’t have any particular plans, so figured I could do that, and said it was fine to pass my contact information on.

Nicole Koeltzow arrived with her friend Amanda on the 11am flight. They had been in Nome the day before, and I believe overnighted in Anchorage before flying to Sitka this morning. Nicole is working on a 2018 ABA big year (today’s Rustic Bunting made 772 in the traditional ABA area) and, while Amanda isn’t doing a big year, she has over 800 species lifetime in the ABA (which is a lot). They flew to Nome for McKay’s Bunting and stopped in Sitka on their way south again.

I picked them up from the airport and we headed over to Parker’s (who I had been in touch with to let them know we would be stopping by), and used the car as a blind to watch for the bunting.

I think we waited and visited for 20-30 minutes before it showed up. Perhaps unsettled by our presence, it disappeared again, and though we had seen it, there was not really a chance for decent photos (which Nicole was hoping for).

We waited another half an hour or so before it came back again, and this time photos were taken, and Nicole and Amanda were able to celebrate a life bird for each of them.

After visiting with the Parkers for a short time, there was still some daylight left, and I asked them if there was anything in particular they were interested in seeing. There were a handful of species that were possible to find which they would be additions to their Alaska state lists, so we spent some time going around Totem Park (where I think they got one or two new state birds, and I saw a Hooded Merganser which Connor had found earlier in the day – my first for this year). They spent the last of daylight looking around downtown in case the Dusky Thrush had returned and so far gone unnoticed, but didn’t find anything unusual.

Amanda was on the evening flight, but Nicole wasn’t able to get on it, and agreed to record a conversation with me for an upcoming radio show before heading to where she was spending the night.

During a break in our recording, it was interesting to see Nicole using the internet on her phone to try and figure out the logistics of getting from Sitka to interior BC to look for a Fieldfare which had been found during a Christmas Bird Count this weekend.

I enjoyed getting a chance to go birding with Nicole and Amanda during their short trip here – I don’t expect I’ll ever get into birding at that level, but it was interesting to hear about their experiences and witness their enthusiasm for birds.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

With a forecast for rain, and the radar showing heavy rain offshore that appeared to be moving towards town, and I have been feeling a little bit off (maybe fighting illness), it seemed like a good day to get caught up on email and other various tasks that I fell behind on back in September when trying to take advantage of the sunny weather (and didn’t catch up on in October or November because I spent too much time chasing rare birds).

This morning I heard a Steller’s Jay calling out in the yard (or somewhere nearby), and as that’s one of the species I hadn’t yet photographed and put into iNaturalist for the year, I went out to try and get pictures. It didn’t really cooperate for a nice portrait, but I fortunately it doesn’t take much for a Steller’s Jay picture to be identifiable. Since it wasn’t a good photo to start with, I decided to play around with the noise and sharpness to give it a different sort of feel.

Connor told me there was frost first thing this morning, but by the time I was up and about, clouds had rolled in more fully and the temperatures had warmed enough to melt the frost. Connor also told me he saw two Palm Warblers and a Wilson’s Warbler in the neighborhood – they’ve been around for several days at least (and the Wilson’s Warbler a couple of weeks, or so).

Rowan and I went to see a movie this afternoon, and were a little surprised that the rain still hadn’t started when we got out around 3:30pm. It did finally start raining a bit a little later, but it seems the heavy rain stayed offshore.

I did get my email inbox trimmed down to under 15 (which is where I like to keep it), and made good progress getting photos from the last quarter of 2013 into iNaturalist. (I’ve been working on getting all my photos which could reasonably serve as iNaturalist observations added to iNaturalist. I didn’t start using iNaturalist extensively until 2017, so most photos from 2017-2018 were added as I went. In the backlog going back to the 1990s I’ve completed everything up through 2012, and am almost done with 2013. I’m hoping to get through 2014-2016 this winter.)

A late male Wilson’s Warbler has been seen by others around the neighborhood recently, and today I got a look at it in my yard and was able to get a photo to document it.

Despite not finding much wind on our outing late last night, it was apparently not done with us yet. I woke up during the early morning hours a couple of times to gusting wind and heavy rain hitting the window.

Winds were still up a bit, but gradually tapered off throughout the day. The highest wave height recorded at the Cape Edgecumbe buoy was at noon today, topping out at 26+ feet (that’s the average of top 1/3 tallest waves during a 20 minute sampling period).

I had calls today, so pretty much spent the day inside. While on my morning call, I heard geese flying over, so I grabbed my camera and popped outside for a moment to see a flock of nearly 50 Snow Geese flying not too high overhead.

It turned out this was a small portion of what sounds like it may have been several thousand Snow Geese and other waterfowl flying south today. I did occasionally hear flocks later in the day, but did not see much, though others reported many flocks flying over the water. It would have been fun to see them, but I didn’t realize that was going on until I saw photos and a couple of short video clips posted later.

Sitka does usually have a few Snow Goose flocks fly over, but I think most of them probably migrate closer to the mainland, so it is unusual to see numbers like those reported today.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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My sunset alarm (set to go off ten minutes before sunset in Sitka each day) had just gone off when I heard my phone vibrate, indicating a text message.

It was showing up as an image from Connor – unusual, as he has never texted me a photo before. It was accompanied by a text saying simply, ‘end of the park‘.

It was a surprisingly orange sparrow of some sort, and I responded by asking him what he thought it was. I quickly followed up letting him know I was on my way.

In a race with the quickly fading light, I grabbed my camera and coat, got into the car and headed down to Totem Park. I got Connor on the phone and confirmed that he was still out between the battle site bench and the river mouth.

I ran much of the way along the trail through the dark forest and came out to the beach at the battle site bench.

Connor was standing out on the flats and kept watch while I walked along the flat drift-log strewn area being overtaken by vegetation (though recently trimmed, and so now quite open).

As I approached not far from where he had last seen it land, an unexpectedly small bird took off, flying low up and over the beach grass than further down the shore between the beach grass and piles of seaweed pushed up by the previous high tide series. I lost sight of it behind the beach grass as it followed the gentle curve of the shore, but Connor saw it flying and also where it had disappeared in the beach grass, telling me he was pretty sure it was the bird he had seen before.

The light had been marginal when I arrived, and was fading more as I continued my walk. Despite going somewhat near where Connor had seen it go into the vegetation, we didn’t see it fly again.

I went down to talk with Connor and see the pictures on his camera. The picture accompanying this post is one I took of the LCD on his camera showing one of the better photos he got.

He told me that he had flushed it while walking along, and it hadn’t flown far. He pished a bit and it popped out enough for him to get the photos before flying further down the beach. At that point he texted me and waited out on the tide flats to watch, not wanting to fly further away. He was confident he had seen it in the bird book previously, but didn’t remember the name off the top of his head.

I knew this was an unusual bird, and it was going to be awhile before I was going to have a chance to look in the bird book, so I texted the photo to Brad B. and Steve H., both of whom replied suggested it was a LeConte’s Sparrow. (After Connor had a chance to look when he got home, he texted me and he had also come to the same conclusion.)

LeConte’s Sparrow has never before been reported from Alaska, and reading up on them, Connor did well to see this bird at all, let alone get a picture of it. They are one of the smallest North American sparrows and apparently notoriously reluctant to flush. When they do flush, it’s only after a fairly close approach and they fly low for short distances. Instead of flying, the usually will run along the ground underneath the vegetation.

Hopefully the bird will stick around, and maybe even provide some better looks.

Late last week, Eric and Cathy Parker reported seeing a raptor and hearing calls that were probably a Golden Eagle. Yesterday Chuck Susie found a nest on the cliffs above the west end of Blue Lake, and today was able to confirm that it was in active use by a pair of Golden Eagles. He is checking with others, but is thinking the young are around 10 days old – which would suggest the eagles have been nesting there for over a month.

Given the lack of the bigger small mammals that I understand Golden Eagles tend to prefer, I was wondering what they could be eating here. I heard from biologist Steve Lewis (who is doing some work with Golden Eagles in the state), that given the prey animals on Baranof, it’s most likely they are going for ptarmigan.

The nest is visible from the parking lot at the end of Blue Lake Road. It is well up on the cliffs, and though it is visible with binoculars, a spotting scope is definitely recommended.

While I was up there this evening, I took some photos to document where to look for the nest.

These photos were taken from the cement and metal bench closest to the dam at the little lake overlook viewing area.

I made a trip downtown today with a stop by Swan Lake. The male Redhead was there with a female Gadwall, but I did not see the female Redhead that had been there previously.

This evening I went out to Galankin Island with Kitty and Allison – Allison was hoping to resight some of the birds she banded there last year. Kitty had seen one earlier in the week, but Allison had no luck while she was out there.

I suspect the Song Sparrows lost their fledgling. The male has been singing regularly again – I think they’ve made (or are working on) a new nest somewhere in the neighbor’s yard, as the preferred singing locations have changed as well. At first I thought perhaps the young bird had become independent, but I’ve seen other fledgling continuing to follow adults around begging, despite being quite capable of flight.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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One of the Song Sparrows banded in my yard last November has stayed around to nest. Connor discovered where the nest recently, and today I saw a young bird sitting just outside of it. I suspect it was just leaving the nest, and both the (banded) father and mother were in nearby trees keeping an anxious eye on their young one while I was uncomfortably close. For its part, the young bird seemed pretty indifferent to me.

Weather today started out overcast, but this afternoon the clouds broke up and for a sunny evening.

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I heard about a Great Horned Owl that had been being harassed by crows since early this morning. It was located in a dense patch of trees in a residential area, but I was able to get a bit of a look at it through the branches.

The crows were fairly relentless in calling at it and going for its tail feathers. Even through the branches, the owl had a very intense energy about it.

This was the first Great Horned Owl I’ve seen in Alaska. Connor was able to photograph it as well, so he is only 11 away from his goal of 200 species (all photographed).

Earlier in the day I had gone out to Galankin Island to check out Caleb’s work on Kitty’s new greenhouse. While visiting with Caleb, I noticed a mayfly perched above the door. It seemed content to stay there in the damp weather, so I took some pictures and left it alone.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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Connor recently figured out where the Song Sparrows were nesting (the male in the pair was banded last fall in my yard), and I got a poor picture of one of them headed into the brush pile where the nest is.

While watching the yard, I was surprised to see a banded Dark-eyed Junco visit. By the time I got my camera ready, it had gone to the feeder where I could not see its legs. I was able to grab a couple of shots as it took off to verify the band colors. It was one of the ones banded in the yard last November, and one of only a handful of summer reports of juncos banded for this project.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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Attendance at ultimate was sparse this afternoon, so after playing catch for a bit in the wind, I drove out to Starrigavan to see if there was much going on out there.

The estuary and beach seemed fairly quiet, and I noticed a text from Connor that he had seen a Semipalmated Sandpiper at the Turnaround. This is a species I don’t see every year, so I headed back to look for it.

It had started raining by this time, but I was able to get good looks at several shorebirds, including the Semipalmated Sandpiper.

A stop at Swan Lake on the way home included sightings of a recently arrived Canvasback, a Pectoral Sandpiper, and lingering Lesser Scaups.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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Connor texted me from his paper route to let me know he had found a Ring-billed Gull on the beach near Eagle Way.

My only prior experience with this species was an immature bird I photographed back in 2007 or so, but didn’t figure out the ID for until several years later.

I was able to get a few pictures of his adult bird by itself, and then next to a Mew Gull that landed nearby.

After a bit, the Ring-billed Gull flew off to the west, an disappeared behind the trees at the park.

I decided to go check the Channel and see if it had gone there.

While scanning the channel I noticed a Franklin’s Gull, but not Ring-billed Gull (despite wanting to turn a number of different not-quite-adult gulls into the Ring-billed Gull).

While talking to David K, it sounded like he thought he might have seen a Ring-billed Gull on the flats at the park the evening before, but didn’t feel confident in the call since light was fading and he didn’t get a picture of it.

While at the channel, I got a text from Andrew T. that he had seen 10 Blue-winged Teal at Kalkae Pond (along Indian River road). I made a stop by there in the fading light and found 7 Blue-winged Teal plus a Northern Shoveler and Northern Pintail.

Kalkae Pond is not a place I think of checking much, but it might be worth getting in a routine of walking by there during migration.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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One of a small flock of Western Sandpipers feeding in the grass during high tide on a rainy day at the Turnaround.

While standing near the Crescent Harbor shelter visiting with another local birder and waiting to help move some stuff with a friend, I noticed a bird perched in a shrub over across by the sea walk.

Song Sparrows are common at that location, but I could see enough even without binoculars to tell it probably wasn’t one of those.

Taking a look through binoculars, I could see enough to think it was a probably a thrush, but despite trying, I couldn’t quite turn it into any sort of thrush I would expect to see here, especially this time of year.

It deserved a closer look.

Even the brief glance I got as I got a little closer (before it flew down out of my view) was enough for me to call back to the others to let them know it was a bird they probably wanted to get a look at.

I’m not up on my Asian thrushes, but I was pretty sure this was one of the handful that are at least vaguely robin-like.

A very cooperative bird, over the 1+ hours we watched it, it primarily spent time eating rose hips off a feral rose bush growing in the rocks between the sidewalk and the harbor. At one point it did fly across Lincoln Street and spent a little time in the yard of the Hanlon-Osbakken House, and an even shorter time in the yard of the Russian Bishop’s house, before returning to its favored corner in the harbor.

This is the first reported Dusky Thrush for Sitka. In the region it looks like they have also been reported previously in Juneau and Petersburg.

Hopefully this bird sticks around for a little bit, but if not, it was a nice one to see on this crisp sunny day between extended periods of warmer and rainy weather.

Thanks to David K., Kitty L., and Connor G. for helping keep an eye on the bird for the hour we watched it (and helping many others to get a look at it). It was great to have so many folks, both birders and curious passers-by, get a good look at this bird (it helps when the vagrant shows up near a popular walking location).

Thanks also to Brad B. for helping me out with an id after I texted him a photo.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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Connor found the Purple Finch around mid-morning on Etolin Street today. Later in the day he checked Swan Lake and found a second coot had joined the one that has been there for a week or two.

My outside time consisted of taking pictures of an Anna’s Hummingbird while it perched between visits to the feeder followed by a walk down to the breakwater.

Around midafternoon as the sun was dropping low, it found a break in the clouds and for a brief time shone on the favored perch of one of the male Anna’s Hummingbird that visits our feeders. The magenta flash of its gorget in the warm light is always impressive to me.
Despite an official (at the airport) temperature approaching 40 this afternoon, there was little evidence that ice was melting as I walked down to the harbor. 

Cold swirling gusts were made visible by the leaf litter and other debris pushed in circles over the pavement before coming to rest.

The end of the breakwater was more exposed, but still largely in the windshadow of the mountains. In the distance beyond the point of Totem Park, I could see the choppy waves capped with white where the wind was blowing more steadily out of Silver Bay.

Forecast for the remainder of the week (and maybe into next) is rain, so this may have been the last dry day for a while.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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Clear and calm overnight resulted in the coldest night (and day) so far this season. 

Although the sun was shining for the first half of the day, clouds started moving over this afternoon.

I did not spend too much time outside, but did get out on an afternoon boat trip around the causeway and back through the channel. We cruised slowly, but did not see much in the way of bird life until going through the channel.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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I took a short walk around the neighborhood around noon after dropping my dad off at the airport. I saw no sign of the Purple Finch, though other birds (juncos, primarily) seemed to be acting a little strange. I’m not sure what was going on, but some of them seemed a little agitated.

This afternoon I was walking down to the harbor to help move something and happened to notice the Purple Finch in a mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) tree eating berries. Fortunately I had my camera (for just this reason), and was able to grab a couple of photos before continuing on to the harbor.

The bird was still in the same trees eating berries a little while later on my way back home, but it wasn’t long before it flew off. I did talk to one of the residents of the house who said he had seen the bird on at least one morning previously, but did not know what it was.

It’s not clear to me where the bird is spending most of its time (I’ve checked the same trees many other times in the past week without seeing it), but based on what I saw today, it seems like a good idea to focus on mountain ash trees, or other lingering fruit on ornamental trees/shrubs in the neighborhoods between Jeff Davis and downtown (and perhaps even further away).

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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Today was one of those with heavy clouds where even mid-day light levels are more like dusk . Snow continued to fall throughout much of the day, occasionally mixing with rain, before turning to rain this evening. However, it did not accumulate here in the neighborhoods where I live.

I did take a drive out to look at Silver Bay and was surprised how much snow was on the ground starting at the top of the hill coming out of Jamestown Bay. It looked like 3 inches or more, and the road was quite slippery. The amount of snow on the ground decreased again past Whale Park, though there was still more than in town.

Lucy let me know about a Canvasback on Swan Lake this morning. It wasn’t until after lunch that I was able to go take a look.

Just a relatively small opening running along part of the Lake Street shore between the peninsula and the radio station had open water. Many gulls were loafing on the ice, with a few bathing in the open water.

The Canvasback was diving at the edge of the ice and bringing up vegetation (maybe Chara?) to eat. For most of the time the American Coot was right there ready to grab a bite (it can dive, but seems to prefer to grab food from other birds sometimes), and an American Wigeon and Ring-necked Duck also tried to get in on the food action as well.

Just before I arrived at the lake, I had noticed some birds (juncos, mostly) in the bushes and trees on the north side of Hirst Street. Among them was a Brown Creeper that was foraging low down where it was easy (except for the dim light) to photograph.

When reviewing my photos at home, I was surprised to find the Brown Creeper was banded. It probably was the same bird they captured at BMS while banding last week (about .5 miles away from where I saw it).

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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The following report came in to the Sitka Birds email List from Serena Wild today:
“Thought you all might be interested to know that there is a Virginia Rail at Swan Lake.
I live up at the very end of the lake and on Sunday my cat (a feral cat turned house cat, who hunts down in the swampy area) brought a Virginia Rail into the house. It was alive so I took it away from him and couldn’t find any signs of bites or any harm to the bird. I took it back down to the lake and it flew away into the bushes.”

This is the second report (first with photo) of a Virigina Rail in Sitka. The first was reported by Jen Cedarleaf and Kim Middleton at Starrigavan Estuary on 1 Jan 2006.

There are only a few other reports of this species from Southeast Alaska.

Virginia Rails are generally very good at staying out of sight, and given the location it was found (where no one would have been looking), it is entirely possible this bird has been around for a while.

With the lake frozen, access to the upper end is relatively easy, but walking around in the marshy area at the upper end of the lake is somewhat treacherous. There are many pockets where the water and/or mud is not solidly frozen.

If anyone does refind the bird, it would be great to hear about it.

Thanks to Serena Wild for the report and permission to use the photo!

I was busy this morning and was not able to get out and look for the kingbird. However, Lucy P. let me know she had found it around 9:30 this morning in the same neighborhood where it had been before. It flew off before the next person got out there to look, but just before noon it was spotted again by Kitty L. shortly before the south parking lot of Halibut Point Rec. It remained at that spot sallying out and back to the wires for about an hour, and during that time many folks were able to come out and see the bird.

I was able to get out there a little after noon. There was a small side street that went up behind where the wires were, and I hoped to be able to get a recording of it vocalizing (which it seemed to be doing from time to time) with less of the traffic noise from the main road. Upon walking up the road, I could not see the kingbird on the wires where I expected it, so I thought I needed to go further along.

As I rounded the a bend in the road, I noticed a relatively small dark looking bird gliding across in front of me. It didn’t really seem like a starling, but that was the only thing that really came to mind at the time. I was more focused on trying to figure out how to get to where I could see the kingbird, so I didn’t give it much consideration.

Several of the dwellings along this particular road are trailers which are relatively close together, and beside a couple of them were folks in running cars getting ready to leave. I tend to feel a little awkward wandering around neighborhoods looking through binoculars or big cameras when there are residents around, so I tried to play it cool until the cars drove off.

While I was waiting, I started to become aware of delicate but insistent sounding little sounds with the rhythm of popping corn. They seemed to be coming from behind one of the trailers, and with the engine of a car running nearby, I had a little trouble deciding what I was hearing. I thought it might be juncos alarming, but I could not see any juncos, and the would-be chip notes were so fast and numerous, that I began to doubt. I considered whether there might be a drain pipe with water dipping onto a pan, but that did not seem right either.

Once the last car drove off, I was able to more clearly hear that it definitely sounded like juncos, but I still could not see any. Their alarm chips are almost polite. Never loud, they can still convey intensity, which these were. By this time a Song Sparrow was calling closer to me, but it could have just as easily been calling because of me rather than in response to them, I am not sure.

Download Audio of Alarming Juncos (and Song Sparrow)
Recording of the alarming juncos – the most obvious loud calls are from the Song Sparrow. It did not seem especially concerned, but if you listen into the background a little bit, all of the rapid little chip/clicks are very insistent juncos alarming. Careful listeners may also notice geese calling in the distance (a flock was starting to fly over as I made this recording).

When a Northern Pygmy-Owl suddenly flew up from inside the trees and perched on a branch out in the open, several things clicked for me. The bird I had seen as I walked up was the owl. It had flown deep into the thicket of branches where I could not see it. The neighborhood juncos knew what was up, and were raising the alarm while keeping the owl surrounded. The juncos were also all obscured by the branches. When the owl came out into the open, some of the juncos followed (at a safe distnace).

I was interested to see that, unlike when my kids and I had previously found a Western Screech Owl due to bird alarms (where the alarming birds all seemed to be in kind of an umbrella above the owl), some of the alarming juncos seemed to be below the owl (though still keeping their distance).

After waiting for a couple of others to arrive (they had never seen a pygmy-owl – so fortunately the owl stuck around for a little bit), I walked back down to see if I could figure out where to best observe the kingbird. It turned out where I had originally thought I would be able to see the bird was a good spot, and it was now back perched on the wires there. I was able to take some pictures against the bright overcast skies, and I also got a couple of recordings of its calls to confirm it is a Tropical Kingbird.

There are two calls on the recording – I cut out some of the time between them, so they are closer together in the recording than the bird made them.

Download Audio of Tropical Kingbird

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