With the permission of the author, I have now posted The Birds of Sitka, Alaska, a manuscript by J. Dan Webster.
J. Daniel Webster’s relationship with the Sitka area started relatively early in life. He came to Sitka in 1928 as the 9 year old son of a Presbyterian minister. He graduated from High School in Sitka in 1935. For his Master’s Thesis (earned at Cornell), he studied of the life-history of the Black Oystercatcher. Field work for that thesis was done in Sitka during 1940. He made subsequent trips to Sitka to do ornithological work in the 1980s.
A copy of the manuscript was sent to the Stratton Library at Sheldon Jackson College along with a letter asking that some copies be distributed to several local bird enthusiasts. I actually did not find out about the manuscript until after I received a hand-written letter from Dr. Webster informing me of its existence (how he came to write me a letter is another story). I was happily surprised to find such a document and borrowed the copy from the library.
I was able to call Dr. Webster and had a brief, but interesting, conversation with him. At that time I asked about making the manuscript available on my website, and he said I could share it with whomever might be interested.
This document was a very welcome discovery for me, as I have been making preliminary efforts to put together a fairly comprehensive checklist of birds for the Sitka area. It is nice to have all of the published historical records summarized one document. This, together with the daily observation records kept by two local birders from 1980 through the present will contribute greatly to my ability to create a reasonably accurate checklist for the Sitka area.
Manuscript: The Birds of Sitka, Alaska, by J. Dan Webster
Some of the biographical information came from a brief biography of J. Dan Webster (pdf) written by Daryl Karns for Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science.
Stormy weather persisted throughout the day, but I braved the gales to go talk about birds with Marge and Tedin, two long-time local birders. I took a side trip to Sandy Beach on my way out to their place and felt like I was getting hit with needles to the face on the way back into town against the wind.
Weather: Strong winds were the order of the day, though they were settling down by this evening. There was periodic rain showers, sometimes quite heavy. I noticed several lightning flashes and thunder crashes in the afternoon and then later in the evening.
Birds: There was a single Surf Scoter diving in the surf off of Sandy Beach.
I saw several cormorants along the shoreline off of Pioneer Park.
Yesterday I noticed a mixed flock of Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls in the trees near Crescent Harbor. There seemed to be at least a couple of different smaller flocks in the general area that were loosely associated. Most of the flock in my immediate area was feeding in a sizable alder next to the sidewalk. They were working the alder cones over looking for seeds to eat.
Occasionally I saw a redpoll or two fly down to the ground and stay there for a few moments before flying back up to the tree. I did not think much about this at the time, as I just assumed they were picking up seeds off the ground like I have observed on previous occasions. However, after looking at the pictures I took, I was not so sure.
In one of the photos, it sure looked like the bird was scooping up snow. If the bird was going for seeds, I think it would normally pick at them rather than putting its whole beak down into the snow. Although I had never thought about it before, this is probably how these birds get water in winter. This is a species that regularly spends the winter in cold climates where liquid water is probably not common, so snow is probably their best source of water there. Since the there was no puddle of water close by the tree where they were feeding yesterday, it made sense for the birds to take advantage of the snow that was available if they were thirsty.
Yesterday I went for a walk downtown in the early afternoon. Today I spent the morning at home and the afternoon in my office, so I did not get out at all.
Weather: It was partly cloudy yesterday early, with clouds increasing to overcast conditions early in the afternoon. Winds seemed to be fairly calm. Today it’s been overcast throughout the day, with winds increasing in strength and rain starting to fall in the afternoon. Tonight it has been quite windy. There is a high wind warning until noon tomorrow when the forecast has a wind advisory from noon until 6pm tomorrow. It has certainly been a windy couple of weeks.
Birds: There was a mixed flock of Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls near the corner of Crescent Harbor closest to town.
