Bird Watching

Bohemian Waxwing

Spring has finally begun to arrive, and with it the birds have begun their migration to the northern reaches of the country. I am utterly unashamed of my new hobby of birding. I find it thrilling and fascinating, it both gives me a focus for my energy and distracts me from my thoughts. And I was overjoyed to introduce my brother in law, Jack, to birding as I was passing through Washington state on my way back to Alaska after my recent trip to Coachella Festival.

He had a perfect view of a small protected nature area outside the back window of his house and we had a lovely evening watching the variety of birds come and go, from common birds like the Lincoln Sparrow, to the amazing like the nimble Anna's Hummingbird that continued to zip around us. Jack and I had an altogether too long discussion about a Brown Headed Cowbird which revealed both of our inner nerd.

Spotted Towhee

It took me quite a while to identify the Spotted Towhee that was bouncing around the area all afternoon, and I was delighted to see the spring colors on an American Goldfinch that came by, but the real treat was when an absolutely incredible Red Tailed Hawk landed atop a nearby tree and left everyone in awe! What a handsome bird.

It's not always the rare birds or the ones you've never seen that can give me a thrill however. Sometimes it can be the common ones. Two such cases happened when I returned to Anchorage, on my favorite walking path, very near my house.

Steller's Jay

The first was a Steller's Jay who lives in the area, and I'd seen it often throughout the year, but I could never manage to get a picture of it. It was always too far away, or would flit off just before I could get the camera out, or I wouldn't have the camera with me at all, or there'd be a tree in the way, or the shot was out of focus. It was always something. That is until I was walking to the post office and for no apparent reason thought that I had better take my camera along and then poof! There he was, hopping around from branch to branch just off the side of the trail and giving me a perfect opportunity to get a pic. I was so excited and downright giddy just to get that shot of such a common bird that I have seen flying around my house all winter. 

The other bird was very much the same story, in that I have seen the Hoary Redpolls pretty commonly throughout the year around Anchorage, particularly in the trees around various parking lots, but I rarely get a very good look at them much less do I ever have my camera with me at such times. And so it was that I found myself, again on my favorite little walking path, unfortunately without my camera, when a perfect little Hoary Redpoll lands on the far side of a large rock from me and begins pecking in the leaves doing it's Hoary Redpoll thing and paying no mind to me at all. I stood there transfixed and fascinated because not only had I gotten more than just my usual cursory glance, but this time I had a fantastic view for as long as I'd like. Eventually I moved on, grinning from ear to ear and grateful to my little friend the Redpoll.

Snow Bunting

Then it was time to go back to work. As that the spring birds were just starting to arrive in Anchorage, I didn't hold out much hope that they be arriving all the way up north in Prudhoe Bay yet; especially considering that last week nature unleashed one last winter storm. But my luck was very good and as soon as I arrived the temperatures spiked up, the snow is beginning to melt, and the first of the birds are beginning to arrive. The Ravens, Snow Buntings and the Willow Ptarmigans are up here all winter so it's no surprise to see them, but now the Tundra Swans are arriving, along with the Cackling Geese, Snow Geese, Greater White Fronted Geese, and the Glaucous Gulls. These are all extremely common in Prudhoe.

Northern Harrier

So I was pleasantly bemused, driving to a work location glad to see the birds again when something strange happened. A bird of a shape, and behavior that was NOT common swooped past and perched on a roadside marker just in front of me. I stopped my truck right there in the middle of the road and grabbed my field glasses. I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing... a Northern Harrier, which is something like a miniature hawk with amazing blue/gray feathers on it's back and a pale underbelly, and is also the only North American birds from the family of Hawks known as Harriers (the most notable difference between the two is their hunting habits, Harriers skim the ground to ambush their prey, while Hawks strike from far above). I knew that they were up here, and I even thought that I might have seen one once, but I didn't really expect to get more than a flash of one as I drove by. And here he was. I rolled forward, hoping to get a little more into photo range, or that he might let the truck drive by and give me an up close look. He didn't, instead he swooped low to the ground, up about 3 more roadside markers, and perched again, and I continued forward; then he did it again, and again, and I found myself cruising down the access road at 5 miles per hour or so, gawking at this bird as it made it's way down the same dusty road that I was on. If you would like to know how happy the whole experience made me, consider this: immediately after seeing the Harrier I popped open my computer and spent the next several hours busting out this entire article about why I love birding... enough said.

Raven in the Arctic