Date: 11/16/25 7:49 pm From: rainyday via groups.io <c_griz...> Subject: [AKBirding] Sunday, November 16, 2025 Palm Warbler! Short-eared Owl
Sunday, November 16, 2025 Palm Warbler! Short-eared Owl
Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 9:01 am, sunset 4:26 pm for a total day length of 7 hours and 25 minutes. Tomorrow will be 4 minutes and 35 seconds shorter.
Starry sky last night featured Venus to the south then Jupiter to the east with Orion rising over the silhouetted mountains. Clouds moved in by morning. 5 am low of 18, rising to 28 by 5 pm. Five to eight inches of snow predicted this evening with more on the way.
This afternoon at the head of the bay, a small bird flushed from the grasses as I passed and flew about a block away towards some spruce trees. While wondering about finding this needle in the haystack, I turned back just in case.
To my amazement, the warbler-sized bird popped up on top of a snag and calmly posed, bobbing its tail up and down. The distinctive, bright butter-yellow undertail coverts flashed on this otherwise rather drab bird. PALM WARBLER! A Lifer!
Further research indicated that this was a Western aka Brown palmarum subspecies that should be overwintering under the swaying palms of the Caribbean, not frigid Alaska.
The 2025 Checklist of Alaska Birds lists the Palm Warbler as Rare.
Kai Reising in Halibut Cove posted photos similar to this one on November 8, 2025. Could it be the same bird? The species was also reported in Seward on October 26, 2015, and October 5, 2020 but I missed it both times.
Just as I started the car, I noticed a SHORT-EARED OWL hunting in the far field. I leapt out and enjoyed watching it rise then waft lower and lower, cruising just above the ground. Suddenly it flared, dove, and disappeared. I hope it found a fat vole to tide it over the long cold night.
