There is so much life happening all around. Baby birds are hatching and baby animals are being born. Plant life has spring to life after months of cold and darkness, bathing everything in fresh spring air. The sun is shining, bringing warmth and light, and energy to this fragile eco system. I love to pause and just listen to the birds sing, and take a deep breath of the fresh air. It smells deliciously sweet and almost intoxicating in it's purity. Take a deep breath and enjoy life.
The week of May 8-14 saw a lot of activity and many new bird sightings, including:
Fox Sparrow
Long-tailed Duck
Red-tailed hawk (Harlans Hawk)
Blue-winged Teal
Canvasback
Black-bellied Plover
Surfbird
Glaucous Gull
Whimbrel
Last weekend my family and I went down to the Kenai Birding Festival for a 4 day mini vacation. It was a great time, with birding talks, walks, and fun. We made new friends and added quite a few new birds to my list. The week before leaving for Kenai, I saw 10 new species, 6 of them in one day. Shorebirds can be difficult in and around Anchorage because of the mudflats you need a spotting scope much of the time to positively ID the birds. On one walk several weeks ago however, my wife and I were on a walk on the coastal trail in Anchorage with out two children. We were on our way back to our car to head home when my wife pointed to a bird, as I walked up, I noticed that it was a bird I had not seen before. After looking it up in my app, I found that it was a Pectoral Sandpiper. That was bird #90. I had surpassed last years list pretty easily at 70.
New birds I saw on my Kenai trip included:
Greater white-fronted Goose
Swainson's Thrush
Killdeer
Aleutian Tern
Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Black Turnstone
Marbled Godwit
Dunlin
Sanderling
Northern Waterthrush
Western Sandpiper
What a great trip. We will make the Kenai Birding Festival an annual event for our family.
Upon returning home, this past week has continued to reveal new birds which include:
Western Wood-Pewee
Wilson's Warbler
Eurasian Wigeon
Spotted Sandpiper
Of course I've been out shooting every bird that will pose for me. I've been working on the quality of my photos as well. I want more artful pieces. As a good friend of mine says, there's always an upgrade. Speaking of upgrades; I've upgraded gear and purchased a Nikon D7200 which will fit all my current lenses. I am keeping my D5100 as a backup camera.
My family and I are headed back down to the Kenai this weekend and all next week for a family vacation. We will make stops in Homer, Soldovia, Seward and base out of Soldotna and Kenai. Should be a great trip with great weather. I hope to fill up all my SD cards.
Well that's a lot of birds to report on, I've passed 100 birds now on this years list. That's not to shabby. I wish I could have photographed every bird I've seen but some of them were just to far out to get a decent shot. There's always an upgrade.
That's it for now. As always, keep your eyes to the trees and your binoculars (and camera) handy.
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