Birder’s Notebook

American Pipit––Tougher than they look

*/ American pipits are delicate-looking songbirds that defy their appearance to buck strong winds and endure the harsh condition of their alpine breeding grounds. This slender, fairy-like bird...

Buff-breasted Sandpiper––an elegant visitor delights observers

Every spring during migration, I keep a sharp eye out for a special shorebird–the elegant and charismatic buff-breasted sandpiper. In many years “buffys” are not even reported in the region, and...

BOUND FOR WRANGEL ISLAND – A flock of dazzling white snow geese with black-tipped wings takes off from Safety Sound after a brief layover for food and rest en route to their breeding grounds on Wrangel Island, Russia.

Snow Goose – here today, gone tomorrow

Sometimes spring migration begins with a tantalizing trickle of birds, and sometimes there is an overwhelming but welcome deluge. This year the flood gates opened in mid-May. Among the many species...

MALE SPRUCE GROUSE – A male spruce grouse walks over the snow in late spring. Spruce grouse spend the winter feeding in the upper branches of spruce trees. As spring comes, they spend more time foraging on the ground. They seldom fly unless flushed into a nearby tree, or when males perform short courtship displays.

Spruce Grouse — A bird of the boreal forest

The Seward Peninsula’s spruce forests are home to another well-adapted winter resident, the aptly named spruce grouse. These handsome and hardy grouse are found throughout the boreal and montane...

CANADA JAY AT A CACHE – A Canada jay is fluffed up on a winter day, eating meat it previously cached in the fork of a branch. Canada jays spend summer and fall gathering and storing thousands of bits of food, and use their sticky saliva to glue it to hiding places under bark, beneath lichens, or in forked branches. They scatter their secret stashes throughout their territory in preparation for winter scarcity, and remember where to find them.

Tricks of the trade for some of Nome’s overwintering birds -- Part 2

With temperatures hovering around 30 below zero over the snowy, windswept landscape, early January seemed an uninviting time to be a bird in Nome. While the winter scene appeared devoid of food or...

MOURNING DOVE – A long-lost mourning dove perches in a shelter built for it after it arrived in Chuck and Peggy Fagerstom’s backyard in Nome in the aftermath of ex-typhoon Halong. The Fagerstroms are enjoying the stranded dove’s company and are providing it with shelter, water and a generous buffet of bird seed to see it through the winter, far north of its normal range. The mourning dove is a first for Nome’s Christmas count.

Nome’s 50th Christmas Bird Count

Thanks to clear, calm weather, an abundance of volunteers and sightings of most of our expected winter bird species, Nome’s 50th Christmas Bird Count was a success. Count day began with a stunning...

GYRFALCON—A gyrfalcon is perched with its back to the sun, soaking up warmth from the first rays that hit the cliff where it roosted on a 0°F night. These large, arctic falcons are year-round residents in the Nome area. They are well insulated by dense feathers that extend down their upper legs and drape down to insulate much of their lower legs as well. Like ravens, a gyrfalcons’ large body size relative to its surface area helps prevent heat loss during periods of inactivity.

Nome’s winter birds and how they survive— Part 1

Recently, it was -12°F at Banner Creek in the dim light of late morning. Out the window, three chickadees flitted and bounced energetically through the willows, eating and caching seeds from our...

BABY FOOD – A male American three-toed woodpecker is bringing a billful of insect larvae to his nestlings. The young were in a nest cavity that he and his mate had excavated in the fence post on which he is perched, which was next to a busy parking lot in Fairbanks. Although three-toed woodpeckers can be frustratingly hard to find, they also can be very tolerant of people and allow close observation.

American Three-toed Woodpecker––a unique and inconspicuous bird of the spruce forest

Many Nomeites are familiar with the small black-and-white, forest-dwelling downy woodpeckers that sometimes show up in the willows around Nome in winter. Some are here now. But fewer people know of...

JOINING THE FLOCK— A juvenile common goldeneye, at the lower right, is swimming with a flock of long-tailed ducks at the mouth of Safety Sound. Keep an eye out for these mid-sized, large-headed ducks that sometimes can be seen mixed with other diving ducks along our shores in late fall. Rocky shorelines such as below the Safety Bridge, near Cape Nome and around the Nome harbor and port are good places to spot them.

Common Goldeneye––a visitor on whistling wings

At this time of year when most birds have left us for the winter, I enjoy spending time along rocky shorelines watching and photographing sea ducks that come in close to feed. It is especially...

MOURNING DOVE— A mourning dove that went astray during migration fluffs up its feathers in a grassy lot in Nome. The mourning dove is one of North America’s most common and widespread birds, but one whose normal range does not extend as far north as Alaska.

Mourning Dove––an unusual visitor from the south

A few days after the threat of ex-typhoon Halong had passed, I paused my car on the Safety Bridge to appreciate a small flock of long-tailed ducks diving in the water below. Out of the corner of my...