Bird of the Week – Great Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron is visual evidence that birds did indeed evolve from dinosaurs; when you see a Great Blue in flight, you can almost think you are seeing a pterodactyl. Great Blues are found in Alaska throughout Southeast and in Southcentral Alaska as far west as Seward. There are irregular reports from Cook Inlet. While Great Blues are equally at home in marine and freshwater environments, in Alaska they are mostly marine and estuarine. Although this is primarily a fish eater, wading (often belly deep) along the shoreline of oceans, marshes, lakes, and rivers, it also hunts upland areas for rodents…
Bird of the Week – Snow Goose
The Snow Goose is one of the most abundant waterfowl species in North America, maybe in the world. Oddly, it doesn’t occur in great abundance in Alaska. (Bonus points for identifying the four other species in this photo.) But they do range west as far as Interior Alaska during spring migration, although not every year. There are breeding birds in the northeastern corner of Alaska’s Arctic coast, but generally Snow Geese breed in far northern Canada. Snow Geese have two color morphs – thought to be different species until 1983. The white morph, shown here, is overwhelmingly the more common…
Bird of the Week – Red Phalarope
WC will say at the top these are poor-quality photos. Taken in 2002, WC’s camera then was something called an Olympus C2500L, which was a state of the art camera in its day, but the state of the art was pretty primitive compared to today’s digital cameras. WC’s skills left a lot to be desired, too. But a couple of years ago when WC was featuring Phalaropes, this species got overlooked. The Red Phalarope is the most pelagic of the three phalarope species, spending up to 11 months each year in marine habitats. Its migratory routes and winter areas are…
Bird of the Week – Red-winged Blackbird
Interior Alaska is near the northerly limit of Red-winged Blackbirds’ range. The Red-winged Blackbird might be the most abundant (and best studied) bird in the U.S. The species breeds in marsh and upland habitats from interior Alaska and central Canada to Costa Rica, and from California to the Atlantic Coast and West Indies. Although primarily associated with large freshwater marshes and prairies, it also nests in small patches of marsh vegetation in roadside ditches, saltwater marshes, rice paddies, hay fields, pasture land, fallow fields, suburban habitats, and even urban parks. The Red-winged Blackbird is also known for its polygynous social…
Bird of the Week – Rusty Blackbird
Some years ago, Mrs. WC got a telephone call from a lady who reported there were a lot of “baby Ravens” in her yard. After careful questioning, Mrs. WC established they were Rusty Blackbirds which, after all, are nearly black, even if they don’t otherwise resemble Common Ravens very much, and “baby Ravens” not at all. Joking aside, Rusty Blackbirds are a species in trouble. Their populations have declined catastrophically. Data from long-term surveys like the North American Breeding Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Counts suggest that Rusty Blackbird numbers have plummeted a staggering 85-95% since the mid-1900’s. It’s likely some combination of…
Bird of the Week – Ruffed Grouse
We’re pretty much done with raptors. It’s time to look at birds a little lower down the food chain. And in Interior Alaska, that means the Ruffed Grouse. This is Dennis, a Ruffed Grouse who was determined to drive all humans out of his territory. Dennis isn’t with us any longer; it’s not a behavioral style that confers an evolutionary advantage; his genes have left the pool. Like every species of Galliformes that WC has encountered, the Ruffed Grouse has an elaborate courtship display, including the display shown here and very impressive “drumming.” While perched on a log, stump, boulder,…
Bird of the Week – Long-tailed Jaeger
Jaegers, called Skuas outside of North America, are cousins of gulls that have a more raptor-like lifestyle. The smallest Jaeger, and the most common in North America, is the Long-tailed Jaeger. This is a mostly pelagic – sea-going – species that comes ashore to coastal and alpine Alaska to breed. Handsome and elegant in flight, with a long tail, it is highly territorial. More than one alpine backpacker has been ambushed by a Long-tailed Jaeger protecting its nest. This species’ diet in during consists primarily of lemmings and voles, so it is vulnerable to cycles in the populations of these rodents. The Long-tailed Jaeger…
Bird of the Week – Northern Goshawk
Unlike the wussy other raptors WC has posted recently, the Northern Goshawk usually remains in Alaska all winter. A big, fierce, highly territorial bird, it is specialized to hunt in the dense boreal forest. WC doesn’t have good photos of this species. In fact, this is probably the oldest bird photo WC has posted on the Mudflats. There was a nesting area outside of Fairbanks, but some dirtbag came in and cut down all of the birch trees in which they nested. The extended failure of the Snowshoe Hare populations, a primary prey species, hasn’t helped. It’s astonishing to watch…
Bird of the Week – Merlin
Here’s another falcon, slightly smaller than last week’s Peregrine Falcon. The Merlin is a remarkably fierce predator; WC has watched them kill and fly off with birds as large as a Lesser Yellowlegs. An adult female Merlin weighs about 8.5 ounces; a Lesser Yellowlegs weighs about 3 ounces. That’s 40% of the Merlin’s weight. Merlins seem to prefer open and semi-open areas, nesting on the edges of fields or swamps. Their primary prey is small (and not so small) birds. Alaska’s Merlins are all migratory; the winter from the Southwestern U.S. down to Central America. They breed across Alaska, but…
Bird of the Week – Peregrine Falcon
It’s hard not to like the Peregrine Falcon. In many ways, it is the poster child for the environmental movement. The species was nearly extirpated by DDT and other environmental contaminants. The populations have recovered and adapted to humankind to some extent. It’s not at all unusual to see Peregrines nesting on skyscrapers in big cities, feeding on pigeons. But the Peregine is wholly admirable in its own right. A cosmopolitan bird, it can be found in deserts, swamps, alpine reasons and agricultural area. WC has seen Peregrines in almost all Alaska habitats. It’s a champion flier, with some birds…