The Deskbound Birder: Alaska - 2nd June (Day 6)

Thursday, 2 June 2016

Alaska - 2nd June (Day 6)

We were up at 06:30 for a complete change in the routine from the last few days spent on St Paul, the day was to be spent driving south to Seward from Anchorage a journey of 126 miles with a few stops en-route and some birding in Seward on arrival. First stop was a supermarket on the southern edge of Anchorage where we obtained supplies for the next few days, we then headed south along Seward Highway. This is a stunning road following the Turnagain Arm, through Chugach National Forest and then cutting through the mountains via mountain lakes, meadows and flanked all the way by snow capped mountains. A brief breakfast stop at Beluga Point failed to locate any Beluga but I guess we were a little early in the summer, these are usually seen from July onwards and are best on a rising tide - apparently. We saw little here apart from some Dall's Sheep which were pretty boring things - white goats on a hillside.

We pressed on conscious that we had a lot of ground to cover to get too Seward. A stop at Mile Marker 75 near to Portage produced two Trumpeter Swan amongst the horsetail marsh plus a smart Sooty Fox Sparrow. Then a more productive stop at Turnagain Pass produced Wilson’s Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Hermit Thrush, Sooty Fox Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow in superb mountain scenery. We took the northwards turning to Hope and then followed the Palmer Creek Road south of Hope, following George West's 'A Birder's Guide to Alaska' hoping to bird in an alpine area along Resurrection Creek Valley but unfortunately the road was closed (it seemed permanently) and so we birded an area of scrub just above the treeline seeing Townsends Warbler, Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler, Varied Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Slate-coloured Junco. Nice but not really worth the hour or so diversion.

Trumpeter Swan - Mile Marker 75 near to Portage

Savanna Sparrow - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Yellow Warbler - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Wilson's Warbler - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Golden-crowned Sparrow - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Sooty Fox Sparrow - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Hermit Thrush - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Turn again Pass between Anchorage and Seaward

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Palmer Creek Road, Hope

Varied Thrush - Palmer Creek Road, Hope

Yellow-rumped Warbler - Palmer Creek Road, Hope

Birding on the Palmer Creek Road

Dropping into Seward we grabbed a coffee and sandwich and visited the harbour and marina where we spent some time with half a dozed very tame and ridiculously cute Sea Otter as they frolicked and groomed amongst the boats. The highly localised Northwest Crow fed along the shoreline with many Glaucous-winged Gull but despite the rarity of the crow's it was hard to get too excited about them. Finally, we headed out to Lowell Point and spent the evening birding the shoreline and mature spruce trees, the highlights here were Barrows Goldeneye, Marbled Murrelet, Surf Scoter, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Belted Kingfisher, American Dipper, Harlequin Duck, Steller’s Jay and Red-breasted Nuthatch. We headed to our accommodation, the Harbour View Inn and ventured out into Seward for dinner eating at Chinnok seafood restaurant.