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The most unusual bird of this winter’s Christmas Bird Count in Sitka was a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch found by Jen Cedarleaf and Victoria Vosburg along the road to Herring Cove. Jen was able to get some photos of the bird and shared them with me so I could post them.

This species is probably not too unusual at higher elevations during the summer and earlier fall – I’ve seen them most times I have been up Bear Mountain in the fall, for example. However, unless they’re somehow making it at high elevations, they do not seem to winter much around Sitka. There have been at least a couple of prior reports from winter, but not many.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch at Natural History of Southeast Alaska wiki

Thanks to Jen for sharing her photos!

Conditions weren’t great for taking pictures on this Christmas Bird Count day. I ended up walking most of the neighborhoods between Halibut Point Road and Katlian Street (excluding only the Seward and Observatory Street neighborhoods along with downtown) in addition to Heart Lake to Thimbleberry Lake. My best sighting of the day was Lincoln’s Sparrows in the brush across from the cold storage on Katlian Street. However, the only picture I ended up taking was of this pink flamingo.

Christmas Bird Count was held today in Sitka. After a quick morning trip through Totem Park, I was able to spend the bulk of the day birding by skiff in the bays south of town. Of particular note was my first trip into No Thorofare Bay – a body of water, which as the name implies, is difficult to access due to a very narrow opening. The relatively large opening behind the narrow entrance means a lot of water flows in and out with the tides, but we had good timing and had little trouble getting in and out just after high tide.

Highlights in the bay included 40 Red-breasted Mergansers and a Pied-billed Grebe. The water was exceptionally clear making it relatively easy to see the bottom below, especially in the shallower sections. It was fascinating to see the different looking marine flora and fauna that lives in the areas of high tidal currents.

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Pied-billed Grebe observed in No Thorofare Bay.

Middle portion of the bay looking toward cut into Birds Nest Bay.

No Thorofare Bay looking up towards end of Bay.

No Thorofare Bay near entrance.

The water was exceptionally clear, revealing some of the organisms growing on the bottom of this fast current location.

Heading out the narrow passage of No Thorofare Bay.

There are houses all along the shore of Swan Lake, but most are hidden by the trees.

Sunday (Photos)
It was Christmas Bird Count day, so I hiked up Mt. Verstovia to Peak 2550, down into the bowl and finally into Indian River Valley.
Weather: Light snow was falling when I started this morning, it continued through morning, but had stopped by the time I got down into the river valley. Graupel was falling this evening. Snow was probably at least 3 feet deep out of the trees near Peak 2550 and down into the bowl. There was a thin layer of fresh powder on top of semi-consolidated snow that would not hold my weight. I was typically wading up above my knees. There was a pretty good breeze on the peak and down into the bowl, though less breezy elsewhere.

Birds: I heard much more than I saw, but I ended up going with counts of 10 American Robins, 1 Northern Flicker, 25 Pine Siskins, 25 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 4 Ravens, 3 Bald Eagles, 2 Brown Creepers, and a Common Merganser.

Other Notes: For awhile I followed a set of tracks that I think were Marten Tracks. I also saw several sets of fresh squirrel tracks, deer tracks, and even spooked a deer.

I looked at the shrubs up on the hillsides and did not notice any swollen buds. However, I did see swollen buds along Indian River trail.

Monday:
I spent the day inside working except for a brief foray into the yard to put up a suet feeder.
Weather: Last night’s graupel turned to a more typical snow overnight. There was at least three inches on the ground this morning. It was partly cloudy for most of the day, with highs right around freezing and no additional accumulation. There was not really any wind around the house.
Birds: I noticed a couple of juncos eating some of the sunflower seeds Connor had left out this morning.

Tuesday: (Photos)
I wandered around a couple of residential neighborhoods a little bit on the way to pick up Rowan, including a brief stop at Swan Lake. This afternoon I took a walk around Totem Park.
Weather: Another inch or two of snow fell overnight, but skies were partly cloudy throughout the day with no additional snow. Temperatures were in the upper 20s and low 30s. Winds were light around town, but at the park this afternoon there seemed to be a bit of a breeze out of the ESE near the end of the park. Swan Lake was covered in snow, with a small opening near the inlet. I’m not sure whether there was a little open water at the sides of the lake elsewhere, but it did not look like it from the peninsula.

Birds: I was hoping to find the waxwings to try to get better pictures, but I did not have any luck. I did see a Yellow-rumped Warbler and several Robins. More than one flock of finches flew overhead during my morning outing, but I am not sure what they were, and I never got a good look1 at a flock in a tree. There were several Mallards at the lake, but I did not happen to notice the Cackling Goose.

On the walk around Totem Park I saw Pelagic Cormorants, Surf Scoters, Buffleheads, Mallards, one Common Goldeneye, Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Harlequins Ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Mergansers, Mew Gulls, Thayer’s Gulls, a Great Blue Heron, Ravens, and a probable Loon. The Ravens were out on the intertidal flats, flipping over seaweed and presumably looking for food.

When I arrived back home, there was at least one (maybe two) Winter Wren chirping by the neighbor’s house.

Wednesday: (Photos)
I went for a relatively short outing around town to see what birds I might be able to find.
Weather: It was sunny and calm with cool temperatures. I was thinking it might have been a good day to go winter kayaking, as the calm air with the sun reflecting off the water probably would have felt much warmer than the upper-20s air temperature might have otherwise.

Birds: There were a couple of loons that swam along shore by the O’Connell Bridge lightering facility. One was a Pacific Loon, the other a Common Loon. The Pacific Loon was by itself, then the Common Loon popped up at a location where the Pacific Loon could see it and the Pacific Loon swam over toward the Common Loon. Perhaps the Pacific Loon was looking for company, as they often seem to be found in groups.

I saw a Pelagic Cormorant bring up a pretty good sized fish. I was going to try for a picture of it, but unfortunately I didn’t have my camera ready, and by the time I got it, the fish was gone. I think it was too big for the Cormorant to easily swallow.

There I saw a couple of Buffleheads fly by, there were Goldeneyes on the other side of the channel, near the island at the base of the Japonski side of the bridge. A Common Merganser was in the cove on town side of the bridge. There were Long-tailed Ducks and gulls in the channel.

Thursday/Friday:
The only time I spent outside on these days was taking Rowan to and from Preschool.
Weather: Thursday was quite snowy, with another few inches of snow falling. By Friday temperatures had warmed and it was raining.

Saturday: (Photos)
I realized today that I had lost my backpack with some stuff in it, probably on Wednesday. I took a quick trip downtown this afternoon to check the places I had stopped, but did not find it. After returning home, I took Connor and Rowan to the post office and then Market Center.

Weather: It was warmer with some wind and rain through the day. There was a period of clearing this afternoon around sunset that last long enough for the full moon to rise over the mountains. The warm light at sunset was pretty nice.

For the third year in a row, I chose to hike up Mt. Verstovia and down into Indian River Valley for my CBC route. Unlike the last couple of years, we’ve actually had a fair amount of snow this year, including some overnight. Walking along Sawmill Creek Road, I saw ravens and starlings, but someone else was supposed to count this area, so I did not keep track of them all.

Starting up the trail, I saw there some fresh tracks, so despite relatively early (for the shortest days of the year) start, there were others ahead of me. It did not take me too long to remember that I had not been doing much hiking lately.

Not too far beyond the stairs in the salmonberry patch clearing where the trail turns, I stopped to take a break. While sitting there contemplating my poor conditioning, I decided to do my best imitation of a screech owl (let’s just say it could probably use some work). I was a little surprised to hear something respond. I kept whistling, just to be sure, and the response continued. It was not the normal bouncing-ball call of a Western Screech Owl. It sounded kind of annoyed, actually. I suppose it was just settling in for the day, and I had disturbed its rest. Although I felt a little bad for upsetting the owl, I was happy to know that owls might actually pay attention to my whistling, and it was good to get this bird for the count. I know there are quite a few owls around Sitka, but they are rarely included on the count, since few people here actively look for them.

Most of the hike up to the ridge was uneventful. The occasional snow flurry came through, and I took lots of breaks.

Right as I came up to the start of the ridge, I heard a fairly strident repeated call. I came upon a Pine Grosbeak making these calls (and now was able to conclusively say that the bird I heard last month was a Pine Grosbeak). It didn’t hang around for long, so I didn’t get a picture of it.

On the ridge I saw a Red-breasted Sapsucker working on a tree. This seemed to me a fairly high elevation for this bird to be, especially for this time of year. I guess it didn’t feel the need to ask me about it, though. Not too far past the sapsucker, I spotted some crossbills in the top of a distant tree. I tried to get closer, but was not able to re-find them.

Near the edge of the trees, I saw a set of tracks that were probably made earlier in the day or possibly the day before. All that was left were dimples in the snow. I was pretty sure they were ptarmigan tracks, but I wasn’t confident enough to count them.

When I got out of the trees, I saw three people snow boarding off of Peak 2550. I was glad that they had broken the trail, as my brief foray into the deeper snow to try for a better look at the crossbills had been strenuous.

I stopped for lunch a little ways down toward the saddle.

From here it was pretty much all downhill. The snow was fairly deep, I was easily sinking in up to my waist. However, it was fun to take big steps down. On my way into the saddle, I passed another snowboarder who was climbing out. I mentioned that it seemed like a bit of a hike back to the top and asked if it was worth it. He said it was. He also told me he had a friend who was also snowboarding (but had stopped to eat a little lower and out of sight) after I commented on the number of tracks that I could see going into the bowl.

While headed down to the meadow (buried in several feet of snow), I saw another Pine Grosbeak. I also had the most unexpected birds on my list for the day. A flock of seven Trumpeter Swans flew by right around eye level for me. They were headed out to the ocean from up Indian River Valley. I’m not sure if they had flown up and circled back or what, but it’s not everyday that the person whose route is probably furthest from any body of water gets to count swans.

At one point on a particularly steep section, I stepped in deeper than I expected and pitched forward a little bit. My foot was extended like I was standing on my tip toes and my calf cramped up pretty hard. I was a little concerned that it might make for a pretty painful remainder of the hike, but fortunately it loosened up and before long I was wading through the snow without any pain.

After getting across the snow covered meadow and down into the gully beyond, I climbed back out of the gully and into the woods on the other side. While walking in the woods through this section, I did see deer tracks, and even got to see a couple of deer. They were not far from me, one of them wouldn’t have been too difficult of a shot if I had been hunting. However I don’t think packing the deer out would have been too much fun.

This year I had resolved not to come down too early to catch the ridge I wanted (like I had done each of the previous years), so I made an effort to stay up a little higher. I avoided getting sucked down along gullies, and eventually came to quite a large gully. If I had thought about it a little more carefully, I would have realized that his gully marked the backside of the ridge that I actually wanted to stay on. Instead of staying on this ridge, I crossed the gully and continued my slow descent while continuing up valley. In the end, this worked out alright. The descent was gradual (no cliffs to navigate this year) and I ended up coming down onto more or less level ground. At this point I was not exactly sure where I was, but I did notice that there was a stump that looked like it had been cut. It took a moment, but the log that had once been the tree attached to the stump resolved itself into a bridge. Suddenly I realized I was looking at the trail. It was only now that I realized I had overshot my intended route by a fair bit. I probably would have recognized the location right away if it hadn’t been for all the snow. One benefit of going the extra distance is I picked up a Brown Creeper during one of my rest breaks.

The walk back down the trail was largely uneventful. I made it out near dark, but did not really have time to go home before the count meeting. I decided to just walk over to the Raptor Center (where the meeting was to be held) and go home after that.

For me it was another successful bird count hike. I was pretty tired, I had a short list of birds, and this year I don’t think any of them were unique to me, but it was definitely worth getting out there.

The Sitka count circle was established for the 1975 count year (Winter of 1974-1975). With the exception of the 1980 and 1981 count years, there has been a count every year since that time. This will be my third year participating.

The satellite image with count circle overlay gives some idea of the kind of terrain we try to cover during the count. I think it is pretty safe to say that a significant part of the circle has never been covered during any count. I am uncertain about historical efforts, but in the last couple of years, there has been pretty good coverage of the road system, and at least a couple of boats that made an effort to count in the protected waters. This means that locations not easily accessible by road or protected waters are not typically counted. This includes many square miles of forested lands, from the interior of islands in the sound to the valleys and mountains of Baranof Island not immediately adjacent to a road or easy trail. The more exposed waters of Sitka Sound included in the circle are probably also not usually counted.

The last couple of years (2004, 2005), I have made some effort to cover areas that have not typically been counted. I have climbed Mt. Verstovia and come down a mile or two up Indian River Valley. This time of year, the days are short, so I typically start as it’s just starting to get light and manage to make it home around dark. Even with this effort, I am only able to count a small thread of territory at the edge of over 30 square miles of the count circle containing wilderness mountain peaks, valley bottoms and everything in between.

I think it is interesting to look at the numbers over the years. There have been 150 different distinct species reported over the 30 years the count has been conducted. The average number of species found per year is 61.5, with a maximum of 80 species in 1979 and a minimum of 44 in 1976. An average of 20 people per year have participated with a high of 54 for the 2005 count and a low of 8 on the first count. People often count in small groups, so a better measure of the amount of effort to count may be the number of party hours. This gives the combined number of hours spent by each party. It’s pretty clear that some years must have tended toward smaller groups and individuals than others. The most party hours reported was for the 1991 count when 20 individuals logged 85 party hours. The next highest was 65 party hours for the 2005 count when 54 people participated (in fairness, the weather was pretty lousy for that count also).

There are 21 species that have been reported all 30 years. They are Rock Pigeon, White-winged Scoter, Surf Scoter, Pelagic Cormorant, Pacific Loon, Northwestern Crow, Mew Gull, Mallard, Long-tailed Duck, Herring Gull, Harlequin duck, Glaucous-winged Gull, European Starling, Double-crested Cormorant, Dark-eyed Junco, Common Raven, Common Murre, Common Merganser, Common Loon, Bufflehead, and Barrow’s Goldeneye.

In addtion, there are 12 more species that have been reported in 29 out of the 30 years. Among those species that were reported in 29 of 30 years are Bald Eagle, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Belted Kingfisher, American Dipper, Black Turnstone, Winter Wren, and Varied Thrush. Although they are not all abundant, these are typically easy to find in easily accessible areas. In some cases, it seems likely that the person who saw them was not comfortable identifying the species. For example, the only year with no Black Turnstones recorded was 1994. However, there were 50 sandpiper sp. reported that year, almost double the next highest count in that category. In 1983, no Bald Eagles were reported. I wonder if that was an oversight during data submission or something as most years there are well over 100 eagles counted.

At the other end of the scale, there are 35 species that have been reported one time, 15 that have been reported twice, and 14 that have been reported 3 times. I think most of this group of rarely observed species can be put into three different categories:

1. Birds that are difficult to observe due to location or habit, but not as uncommon as the count might indicate. These birds would include some owls, ptarmigan, and various alcids that tend to stay in deeper water.
2. Birds that are not unusual during some other times of year, but seen out of season during the bird count. Species in this cateogry include Lincoln’s and Savannah Sparrows, Brant, Greater White-fronted Goose, Pacific Slope Flycatcher, and some of the shorebirds.
3. Birds that are not typically seen in Sitka at all, including Cattle Egret, Red-faced Cormorant, Northern Mockingbird, McKay’s Bunting, and others

This years Christmas Bird Count for the Sitka Count Circle is scheduled for Saturday, 16 December. The pre-count meeting will take place on Thursday, 7pm at the Alaska Raptor Center.

Links:
Audobon CBC Count Tables: Records for all years and all count circles are available from this website. The formatting of the tables tends to make them quite large if you include many years, so they can take awhile to download.
Sitka Count Records is a page I made with all the Sitka count records somewhat simplified in a much smaller download.

Google Earth was used to create the satellite images.
How to create a count circle with Google Earth.

I left home just after 8am and as the sun began to rise, I was treated to a pretty amazing sunrise as I walked past Arrowhead Trailer Court on my way to the trailhead. I could not pass up the chance to stop and take some pictures, so I took a short detour down to the mouth of Indian River and took some more photos of the sunrise looking over Jamestown Bay. As the color began to fade, I continued on to the start of Mt. Verstovia trail.

Late Fall of this year there was a period of at least a few days (and maybe as long as a week) where the Sitka area was completely innudated with Varied Thrush. Their numbers had decreased significantly since that time, but I still obersved many of them along the trail on the way up. Most of the time I was alerted to their presence by their ‘chup’ calls. For some of them that is all I was able to observe as they remained hidden from sight in the thick underbrush. In addition to the Varied Thrushes, I also saw Golden-crowned Kinglets, Winter Wrens, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Chestnut-backed Chickadees by the time I reached the second view point. Last year I had not seen much of anything by the time I reached this location.

As I was going up the switchbacks, I thought I heard a slight tapping sound. Sound is often the first clue I have about a bird’s presence, and tapping sounds often come from woodpeckers. This time was no different, as I was able to spot a lethargic Red-breasted Sapsucker fairly close to the trail. It was much less active than I have typically seen. I am guessing that was a strategy for conserving energy on the short, cool winter days.

With the weather nice for hiking, I opted to continue on the trail all the way up to Picnic Rock (Peak 2550), rather than cut off trail along the ridge as I had last year. My effort was rewarded when I was able to observe White-winged Crossbills feeding in the conifers at the tree line. This was the first time I had seen these birds. I tried to get a little closer for better pictures, but the terrain was not conducive to doing so.

After a short lunch break on top, I headed down the ridge toward Indian River Valley. I would periodically hear birds, but I could not tell what they were from the calls, and I was not able to see them. I stayed mostly on the ridge as I went down, then cut back to get into the bowl between Peak 2550 and the Main Peak of Verstovia. The bottom of the bowl was a flat meadow with a stream winding through it. With the Main Peak of Verstovia towering over it, the meadow was very scenic, even in this season of brown. I can only imagine what it is like in mid-Summer when the wildflowers are in bloom.

I followed a gulley down from the North side of the meadow. My intention was to hit the ridge that goes down into Indian River Valley just up-valley from a large muskeg near the second bridge. I made my way down the the fairly steep hillside tending mostly down and slightly to the right (up-valley). I periodically saw flags, but did not work too hard to follow them. I saw many squirrels a Winter Wren or two, and at one point even startled up a deer. When I reached the sloped bench that is between the 800 and 1000 foot level, I tried to go mostly up-valley rather than down. I continued to notice the flags as I passed through a couple of clearings and at the edge of the second clearing, I decided to try following the flags.

I made the decision to follow the flags based on the premise that whomever had placed them probably had a decent way to get down (and quite possibly used the same ridge that I had planned to). I should note that the reason I wanted to go to the ridge is that below the bench, the hillside tends to be very steep, with many places having cliffs. I preferred to avoid the need to pick my way around and down cliffs, so I wanted to hit the ridge.

As I followed the flags, they seemed to be going down too soon to make it over to the ridge, but I continued in my simpleminded faith that they must lead to a good way down. As the slope got steeper and steeper and I continued following the flags, I finally found myself at the top of a 20 foot cliff. I searched in vain for the next flag, but as far as I could tell, the flags just ended at the top of the cliff. Lesson learned– “When bushwhacking in the backcountry, beware of following flags. The person who placed the flags was probably more lost than you are.”

Fortunately there was a way to skirt around the cliff without causing too much nervousness, so I did not find it necessary to backtrack up the hill (as by this point, I was feeling somewhat fatigued). During this portion of the trip I heard some bird calls that I did not remember having heard before. I did not recognize them, and due to the terrain I was not able to get closer for a chance to see what birds they might be.

Subsequent to the getting down the cliff, the trip back was largely uneventful. I made it to the muskeg where I had intended to and was able hike back along the trail into town. Unlike last year, I did not see all that many birds along Indian River Trail. I did see a couple of dippers and some mergansers, but that’s about it.

Picture Showing the Route:

Photos Taken

Cross Mountain at Sunrise

Sunrise behind Jamestown Bay

High Peaks of Baranof Island

Jamestown Bay Sunrises

Jamestown Bay Sunrise

Second Viewpoint on Verstovia Trail

Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)

Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)

White-winged Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera)

Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)

White-winged Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera)

Lucky Chance

Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana)

Peak 2890

Peak 2890

Mt. Verstovia Peak

Moss

Moss