Bruce Glick is currently traveling in Alaska. You can read more about his Alaskan adventure in the Gone Birding column.
Anchorage area birding
In a few days our three month sojourn will be half over. If the second half is as good as the first, well be more than happy. Being in Anchorage took so getting used to since we had not seen a city for weeks. We were also in town for the solstice festival which is a big annual event in town.
There are many bike trails so we spent time exploring the city that way, even seeing several moose! Several of the small lakes have nesting Pacific and Common Loons. At one point the bike trail ran along a small lake which had nesting American Wigeon, Mew Gulls, and Red-necked Grebes. A small flock of Short-billed Dowitchers there were the first ones for the trip.
My favorite birding location in the area was Potter Marsh. This large wetlands is located a few miles out of town along the highway to Homer and Seward. There are several pull-offs where birders can observe the nesting Arctic Terns, Mew Gulls, Red-necked Grebes and more. The grebes and gulls were feeding very young birds and were kept very busy. The Arctic Terns were especially active, swooping down over the water and coming back to feed the young.
At one point most of the birds took off, calling and flying in all directions. A quick look around confirmed that an adult Bald Eagle was flying low over the wetlands. The birds quickly resumed their activity as soon as the eagle left the area.
One morning while we were camped at Palmer, near Anchorage, we woke up to blue sky and sunshine. Since the last week had been cloudy most of the time, we decided to drive up the Parks Highway and see if Denali, our tallest U.S. mountain, was visible. After 30 minutes or so we came to an overlook and sure enough, the peak was almost entirely clear. For the next few hours we kept driving closer and closer. At mile marker 135, we stopped at a big rest area and viewing point. Over lunch in our vehicle, we kept watching as clouds built up and then moved off again. Since some tourists never get to see Denali without cloud cover, we felt quite lucky. Hopefully later on well get closer views when we drive the entire road to the park and on to Fairbanks.
For now we decided to head toward Seward and Homer. The first night was spent at a beautiful forest service campground near Portage Lake. Varied Thrushes and Hermit Thrushes were tame, coming into the campsite at times. At least three glaciers reach down from the surrounding mountains but only one comes down all the way to the lake. Nearby, a long tunnel takes visitors to the port of Whittier. The tunnel is for trains and vehicles but not at the same time.
Good birding!
Bruce Glick
birderbruce@yahoo.com
