{"id":2208,"date":"2023-05-20T00:50:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-20T04:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/?p=2208"},"modified":"2023-08-24T11:45:42","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T15:45:42","slug":"friday-may-19-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/friday-may-19-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday, May 19, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Temp in the 40s, mostly cloudy, wind N 5 mph<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Weather, May 19, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We decided to go down to Finger Bay\/Creek this morning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were a lot more birds in Sweeper Cove this morning and, as we drove up the south side of the cove, we spotted a couple flocks of ducks which Amanda scoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She quickly picked out two Tufted Ducks with a flock of Greater Scaup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tufted Ducks (top 2 birds) with Greater Scaup, Sweeper Cove, May 19, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We had been looking for these guys for three days. The flock apparently moves around a lot. They had been seen at the Airport Ponds, Lake Andrew, Contractors Marsh, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the North Quarry, we got a pair of Pacific Wrens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pacific Wren, North Quarry, May 19, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Up at the South Quarry, we got a pair of Snow Buntings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We didn’t see anything new down at the Finger Bay area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then headed up to Contractors Marsh, where we had several Common and Wilson’s snipe calling and flying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we turned to leave, a Short-eared Owl flew by. It headed over towards the Thrush Feeder and caught something nearby. It then landed in the field across from the feeder and devoured it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later on, I went over to the spot where it was eating it, but found no fur or feathers. As we watched it eating, it appeared to be eating it piece-by-piece, rather than swallowing it whole like owls usually do. So I was surprised not to find any evidence of the prey (the location was easy to find, as it was on a little tussock which stood out from the surrounding vegetation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Short-eared Owl, Contractors Marsh, May 19, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Amanda was scheduled to go out on the Whiskered Auklet boat trip later in the afternoon, so I took her back to the house where she got in her own car and was going to bird around town until the boat was ready to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went over to the Kuluk Drive feeder to try for the Hawfinch and was rewarded as soon as I stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hawfinch, Kuluk Drive, May 19, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I then headed back up to the Marsh and did the above-mentioned owl-prey search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I drove north and had just stopped at the Palisades Overlook, when I got a radio call from Amanda saying she had a Brambling at the Rock Feeder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I raced back to town and, after a 35-minute wait, saw the Brambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brambling, Sandy Cove Rock Feeder, May 19, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then it was back north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Clam Lagoon, I added Common Goldeye and 2 Parasitic Jaegers to the trip list. And at the Seawall, there was a flock of 85 White-winged Scoters. Unfortunately, they were too far out to determine if any were Stejneger’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, at the Seawall, I had two Pacific Loons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pacific Loon, Seawall, May 19, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There were a couple more Common Goldeneye at Lake Shirley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I came back around the lagoon and stopped at the West Lookout, I looked up to see 3 Caribou running across the lagoon!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Caribou out here stay away from the north end of the island except in winter, so it was totally unexpected. My landlord, Steve, didn’t believe me until I showed him the pics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Caribou, Clam Lagoon, May 19, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They ran across the lagoon (heading west), crossed the road and burst up the hillside and disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Caribou, Clam Lagoon, May 19, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This was only the second time I had seen Caribou in all of our trips out here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I topped off the day’s list with 5 Aleutian Cackling Geese which flew over as I was standing in the driveway telling Steve about the Caribou!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip list is 45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amanda and the High Lonesome BIrd Tour group leave tomorrow and a few new birders will be arriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today’s eBird list can be seen at https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S138458704<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Temp in the 40s, mostly cloudy, wind N 5 mph We decided to go down to Finger Bay\/Creek this morning. There were a lot more birds in Sweeper Cove this morning and, as we drove up the south side of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2023-may","category-may-19-2023"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2208"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2227,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208\/revisions\/2227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}