Date: 12/22/25 6:14 pm From: rainyday via groups.io <c_griz...> Subject: [AKBirding] Monday, December 22, 2025 Killdeer, Anna’s Hummingbird, and Sea Ducks
Monday, December 22, 2025 Killdeer, Anna’s Hummingbird, and Sea Ducks
Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 10:12 am, sunset 3:52 pm for a total day length of 5 hours and 50 minutes. Tomorrow will be 15 seconds LONGER.
Clear, cold, and windy conditions continued with a low of minus 1 this morning around dawn, rising slowly during the short day to a high of 8 by late evening. NNW winds 7 mph with gusts to 17. The warming trend predicted for the next three days with a high of 20 on Wednesday is welcome.
The intrepid ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD landed on the heated feeder this morning at 9:11 am in the dusky dark. He sat and sat, warming up, then sat and sipped over the next seven minutes, before flying to the spruce.
I spotted him throughout the day, only feeding for a minute at a time. At 4 pm he sat and sipped for ten minutes in the dusky twilight, tanking up for the night, then zoomed off towards the spruce and maybe beyond. He’s tough!!!
Robin C alerted me to the discovery by Tim J of another intrepid bird: the KILLDEER! Last seen by me on December 3, I refound the lone shorebird at Afognak Beach, standing on one foot at the high tide line. He too, faces another long cold, windy night.
In recent days along Lowell Point Road by the now-quiet seafood processing plant, I enjoyed watching small rafts of sea ducks patrol along the shoreline: SURF SCOTERS, a pair of WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, a pair of LONG-TAILED DUCKS, RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, COMMON MERGANSERS, and BARROW’S GOLDENEYES. Also, a few PELAGIC CORMORANTS, and MARBLED MURRELETS. Beautiful birds all.
