HAPPY 4th!!!

I haven’t had reliable internet recently so that’s why you haven’t seen any posts from me. It has been an eventful few days though!!

Two days ago we mostly drove and didn’t do any real birding. Even still, I saw some Common Redpolls while I hopped out to take some pictures at a rest stop!! They are one of my favorite winter birds and I saw my lifer Common Redpoll on my birthday this year, I saw them again in the Upper Peninsula and finally had one on my feeder in March!!

Yesterday we drove through Anchorage to Homer, Alaska. Alaska is SO beautiful!! (Not that I doubted it would be!) We stopped outside of Anchorage to bird at Potter Marsh after we passed a MOOSE on the highway munching on leaves!! Potter Marsh was beautiful and I saw some nice birds! Probably the best were the pair of Artic Terns with their fledgling!! I watched (and took photos) as one of the parents continually caught small fish for the baby. The baby begged but the adult must have been trying to get the fledgling to eat on its own because instead of feeding the baby, it just dropped the fish in front of the baby! The baby continued begging and the adult continued dropping fish on the rock next to the baby! I also saw some fuzzy baby Mew Gulls!

Notice all the fish on the rock left by this fledgling Arctic Tern's parents!

Last night we stayed at a campground right on the Homer spit. I wandered along the spit and looked at lots of amazing artwork being sold by local artists. After I was bored with shops and people, I walked along the beach back towards the campground. I was talking to my mom on the phone and I nearly dropped the phone while grabbing my binoculars when five birds flew above my head… Brant geese!!! I knew what they were before I got my binoculars but they were life birds for me so I wanted a good look!! I got a great look and I was excited because these are geese that I had been searching for last fall in Ohio!!

This morning we went out on a boat to look for sea birds and other marine animals! It was a TON of fun and I saw several new life birds and mammals! I even saw a sea star, which hopefully one of my marine biology friends will be able to identify for me! My favorite animals of the trip were Tufted Puffins and a Harbor Seal!! So awesome! I also saw sea otters, pigeon gillemots, common murres, black-legged kittiwakes, pelagic cormorants, bald eagles, black turnstones, glaucous-winged gulls, a few herring gulls and a common raven! I even got to see one of the young bald eagles get a pigeon gillemot!

Common Murres on Gull Island 

An immature Bald Eagle right before its Pigeon Gillemot dinner!

Sea Otters hanging around Gull Island in Homer, Alaska

After the boat trip, we went birding at Wynn Nature Reserve. It was a beautiful park with a pretty nice trail system! Although, at one point we accidentally started following the trail maintained by the moose instead of the trail maintained by the park and ended up turning around when we reached a bog! I didn't see any moose, but I did see plenty of moose turds and I picked up some moose fur! Moose fur is hollow to keep them warm. I never knew that! (Or if I did, I forgot!)

Some type of Lupin in Alaska

Another lovely glacier view, this one is from Wynn Nature Reserve in Homer, Alaska