Date: 8/6/26 11:09 pm From: rainyday via groups.io <c_griz...> Subject: [AKBirding] Thursday, August 6, 2026 Rufous Hummingbird!
Thursday, August 6, 2026 Rufous Hummingbird!
Seward, Alaska
Around noon, an insistent “tick, tick, tick” penetrated my multi-tasking thoughts. I glanced out the kitchen window to an empty space where the hummingbird feeder had waited in vain since July 28 until I removed it three days ago. Below, a RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD buzzed from one purple pansy to another, emitting little hummingbird curses.
Almost panicking, I quickly made a fresh sugar solution and rehung the feeder. What was a Rufous Hummingbird doing here in August??? They should have migrated in July.
I hustled to get my camera ready and went outside to wait. Much to my amazement, I happened into a burst of activity. Birds I haven’t seen since spring zipped through the spruce branches, flitting from branch to branch, gleaning tiny caterpillars from the twigs. Most looked like youngsters: TOWNSEND’S WARBLER, YELLOW WARBLER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, and resident CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES and RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES.
It was impossible to get a decent photo, hidden behind the needles and moving fast, so I had to settle for pieces and parts.
The Hummer returned and allowed me to savor her (?) presence as she silently sipped the sugar water; the offering apparently passed inspection.
The mixed flock moved on, but the Hummer returned around 6 pm and enjoyed another long drink. What a beauty!
Date: 8/3/26 9:43 pm From: rainyday via groups.io <c_griz...> Subject: [AKBirding] Sunday, August 2, 2026 Arctic Terns, Shorebirds, Gulls, and a Deer!
Sunday, August 2, 2026 Arctic Terns, Shorebirds, Gulls, and a Deer!
Seward, Alaska
August already!!!!
Sunrise 5:41 am, sunset 10:28 pm for a total day length of 16 hours and 46 minutes. Tomorrow will be 4 minutes and 55 seconds shorter.
Mostly brilliant sunshine this past week with highs of 65. Yesterday featured ghostly fog wafting in from the Gulf of Alaska, obscuring then revealing the surrounding bay and mountains.
Rain, heavy at times, is in the forecast for the week as stormy weather returns.
Spring Creek Beach and the adjacent boat basin proved to be a hot spot this past week.
After the fish processing plant moved from its long-standing location on Lowell Point Road to the SMIC harbor in March, their feathered clients of the ground-up fish waste moved with them.
Hundreds of Gulls, including clouds of BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES and GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS, and some HERRING GULLS partied with maximum volume around the outlet pipe feast on the seaward side of the harbor breakwater.
As the fish-bits drifted along the shore, many of the Gulls followed. The Kittiwakes mastered the art of hovering and patter-feeding like Storm Petrels, plucking small morsels from the surface midair. The larger Gulls also tried this feeding method but not were not as graceful. Daintier SHORT-BILLED GULLS picked and paddled.
Two juvenile BONAPARTE’S GULLS rested quietly on the placid water, such lovely markings!
Four PIGEON GUILLEMOTS and at least 4 MARBLED MURRELETS dove for live fish just offshore. The shrill whistles of the Murrelets kept the family in touch after surfacing.
I spotted four ARCTIC TERNS on July 28. I heard begging, and the next day, found an adult carrying a small fish back for her baby.
I lucked out when a fledgling chose to land at the tide’s edge near me. She was as large as the parent, but insisted on fresh fish delivery services. She waited patiently for long minutes, looking around, then burst into full begging mode when the adult flew overhead, fish or no fish. Finally, the parent hovered overhead and carefully placed the fish into the wide-open beak. Delivery! And quiet, for now.
I totally missed seeing any Tern chicks this year before the colony at the head of the bay collapsed, so this felt like a serendipitous time warp.
On August 1, I counted 35 Terns swooping ensemble off the rocks by the breakwater. When they settled back down in the intertidal zone, I counted 44 Terns. So exciting! I wonder if this population included Terns from the collapsed colony, and if this will be the new colony location. I also wonder when they will migrate.
On July 28, a SPOTTED SANDPIPER, presumably a parent, still in her dashing spotted breeding plumage, walked along the rocks at the tide’s edge. Her sleek juvenile, with remnant downy feathers poking out from its nape, crept cautiously along the high tide line, stalking the numerous beach flies.
I also found a SEMIPALMATED PLOVER family at Fourth of July Beach later that afternoon, chasing beach flies, and a juvenile VARIED THRUSH grabbing flies at Afognak Beach on July 30.
A pulse of LESSER YELLOWLEGS showed up this week at the various beaches, with a few GREATER YELLOWLEGS.
On August 1, I was stunned to find a buck Sitka Black-tailed Deer walking along Nash Road by the Mile 1 wetlands. He soon realized that he was trapped with vehicles on the road and wetlands on both sides. He crossed over and hustled along the road trying to get around the water.
When he passed my somewhat pulled-over car, I snapped a photo that showed his long whiskers and eyebrows, something I have never seen in a taxidermied specimen. Such big, dark eyes, alert ears, and antlers covered in velvet. A beautiful deer, unusual for Seward, though a doe has been living in Seward for the past several years.
At home, the last RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD I saw was feeding on my red columbines on July 28. Safe travels!
An adult Varied Thrush hopped across the yard, and a ROBIN sang a few wistful bars from the top of a spruce tree. Resident CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES called from the nearby trees and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS called from clusters of green spruce cones at the tops. STELLER JAYS, BLACK-BILLED MAGPIES, RAVENS, and even BALD EAGLES passed through.
The flashy visitors are getting more scarce and the residents more noticeable as the season quickly moves along.
Date: 7/29/26 9:45 am From: James Herbert via groups.io <jherbert8000...> Subject: [AKBirding] Hacked - "invite"
Apologies to all. I was hacked and an "invite" was sent to many. Do NOT open or click on any "invites". Apparently this is a common hack these days. Sorry Jim Herbert
Sunrise 5:25 am, sunset 10:45 pm for a total day length of 17 hours and 19 minutes. Tomorrow will be four minutes and 35 seconds shorter.
The week began with 5-6” of accumulated rain and flooding, and ended with five days of sunshine soaring to a July high of 66º today. Hot!
After a long hiatus, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD action at my feeder really picked up during the rain. Two Hummers actually shared the feeder on opposite sides for several minutes rather than chasing each other off as usual. I had at least three zooming in and out all day.
I learned from hummingbird expert Todd Eskelin that juveniles and adult females look very similar. Banders can look at their beaks with a magnifying glass to verify age. Hatch-year birds have fine striations covering most of the upper bill vs the smooth, hard bill of an adult with little or no grooving.
Also, the juveniles rarely have any gorget feathers but just lots of stippling dots on the throat. Adult females will often have more of a central gorget spot. Of course, the dazzling adult males migrated a long time ago, so that helps a bit.
It is also hard to tell the gender of juveniles without seeing the tail spread. Banders can lift the upper tail coverts and check the central tail feathers. If they are more than 50% rufous, it is a male, and less, it’s a female. So, I don’t know the gender or age of my hummers.
On Tuesday at the beach, angry SHORT-BILLED GULLS dive-bombed an immature BALD EAGLE that had the audacity to sit at their nest in a short spruce tree. She must have found something of interest like unhatched eggs or nestlings, though it seems very late. The Gulls eventually drove off the giant predator, but it was probably too late for whoever was in the nest.
A pulse of about 50 peeps moved through, flashing in synchrony along the tideline. Three SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS fed in the shallows. I also heard an ALDER FLYCATCHER and some ARCTIC TERNS.
As the rain tapered off on Wednesday, “my” VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS fledged. The box was silent and looked abandoned. Happy they fledged, sad they’re gone.
That afternoon at least six Violet-green Swallows swooped and chirruped over my yard, some begging mid-air, a joyous sound and sight. What exhilarating freedom after being cooped up in a nest box for so long! My neighbor’s TREE SWALLOWS also fledged.
Later, there were at least 20 Swallows flying low over the street; I stopped in my tracks to enjoy the spectacle.
The next day, Thursday, July 23, it seemed the unseasonable north wind with gusts to 24 mph blew everything south. No Swallows, no Hummingbirds, no Terns.
Not quite everything; 16 Short-billed Dowitchers stitched at the tidelands with two Yellowlegs.
One Rufous Hummingbird remained on Friday. She actually hovered at my kitchen window where I was lurking, as if to complain about the service. I swapped out the feeder solution!
Also on Friday was a surprise SOLITARY SANDPIPER at First Lake in Two Lakes Park. At first, I thought it was a Lesser Yellowlegs, but not with those conspicuous white eye-rings. It bobbed its tail and walked through the shallows, picking up tidbits. A newly emerged dragonfly zoomed past.
Saturday around 11:30 pm, I again heard a distant SAW-WHET OWL beeping from forested slopes of Mt Marathon. Nice to hear him, but is he still trying to attract a mate?
Sunday morning while enjoying breakfast in the yard, I froze as a Rufous Hummingbird hovered in a nearby lilac, sipping nectar from one fragrant flower after another. It’s a lot of work to hover-feed, and after several minutes, it perched on a twig to rest. Lilacs, like many other flowers, bloomed late this year, and provide food for any lingering hummers.
A walk at the beach turned up one GREATER YELLOWLEGS and a singing LINCOLN’S SPARROW.
This afternoon, in the heat, I came across an adult ROBIN all stretched out, relaxing and soaking up the sun on the Two Lakes Trail. I stopped, but eventually two other hikers joined me and he flew off, disgruntled at being disturbed. He, like the rest of us, appreciated the return of summer.
Date: 7/19/26 9:50 pm From: rainyday via groups.io <c_griz...> Subject: [AKBirding] Sunday, July 19, 2026 Catch-up
Sunday, July 19, 2026 Catch-up
Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 5:10 am, sunset 11:00 pm for a total day length of 17 hours and 50 minutes. Tomorrow will be 4 minutes and 6 seconds shorter.
NOAA issued two severe Weather Alerts for Seward from Sunday morning until Tuesday morning: a Flood Watch (be prepared) and Flood Warning (take action). It rained hard all day with only a few brief breaks. Up to 6” of rain and increasing wind are forecast due to an “atmospheric river” moving up from the Kamchatka Peninsula across the Gulf in a succession of lows. Temperatures remained cool this week, in the mid 40s to low 50s.
Two bright spots in this otherwise dismal and gloomy day: RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS have not yet migrated and continued to come to feeders. It’s such an inspiration to watch these tiny but intrepid jewels zipping fearlessly through the deluge. Their raincoat is far superior to mine.
“My” VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW family is still in the nest box after a late start. At least two babies begged in their charming but insistent staccato baby voices. One baby plugged the opening, watching alertly for the food service delivery, then ramped up the excitement as dad appeared, yellow beak wide open. It’s a wonder how the parents found any insects in the downpour. I hope the babies can wait until these storms pass for their first flight into the wide world.
On July 15, I found momma GADWALL paddling along with her seven adorable ducklings in tow. An immature BALD EAGLE nearby showed a suspiciously keen interest in the young family.
SHORT-BILLED GULLS dive-bombed an “innocent” adult Bald Eagle perched on a driftwood log, hanging his wings out to dry. No doubt, fledgling gulls were in the area and potentially on the snack menu. Danger lurks everywhere for the young and vulnerable.
14 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS stitched industriously in the estuary pond with about 20 GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS. Nine flew overhead, resembling pieces of an M.C. Escher tessellation just waiting to be arranged.
The ragged clouds provided just enough veiling to allow me to once again capture sunspots on the Sun, 93 million miles away. There were two active regions this time, one on each side of the earth-facing disk. Incredible!
The TRUMPTER SWANS at Mile 1 Nash Road continued to paddle and preen, sometimes near, sometimes far. The cygnet is now about 3 weeks old and growing dramatically. When one parent stretched her enormous wings, I could see that her primary feathers are just unfurling. No wonder they preen constantly.
Note to self: get outside when you can; life goes on despite the challenging weather.
Date: 7/15/26 12:19 am From: rainyday via groups.io <c_griz...> Subject: [AKBirding] Tuesday, July 14, 2026 Common Murre with deformed bill update
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 Common Murre with deformed bill update
Seward, AK
My recent report generated interest from USFWS, NOAA Fisheries, International Bird Rescue, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and other scientists and organizations in Anchorage, Oregon,
California, and as far away as Midway Atoll NWR and SE Tasmania, thanks to a link to the Pacific Seabird Group.
Deformed bills, also known as Avian Keratin Disorder (AKD), in land species such as chickadees, ravens and crows are well documented. Deformed bills in seabirds are not common or, perhaps, not commonly observed.
Some of the seabird deformities noted were the result of healed injuries (trauma). AKD in seabirds is poorly studied but may be linked to a previously unknown virus, the Poecivirus, as is the case with landbirds, and other causes.
A consensus has not been reached on the cause of bill deformities in seabirds, but marine bird observers agreed on the importance of looking more closely during surveys. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
