Sunday Walk

On Sunday I left the house around 7:30 am. The tide was very low so I crossed the road and walked down to Back beach. There were a lot of shorebirds at Back beach so I slowly walked out onto the beach so that I didn’t scare them. I spooked them a little bit any ways but they came back. I walked out and just stood still out by the water line. The sandpipers came back and landed a little bit away from me then they walked around me some of them as close as a few feet. I watched and took photos of them poking their little bills in the ground looking for food. After watching them for a bit I slowly moved away from them so that I didn’t spook them. After I had gotten a little ways away I walked more quickly, I walked over to the river and found a spot that looked crossable but it would be over my boots so I pulled my rain pants from the inside of my boots and put them over the outside so that little to no water would get into my boots. I carefully made my way across the river, after I had made it across the river I started looking at the shorebirds and other birds that were there. In with all the sandpipers and turnstones I saw that there were three Lesser yellowlegs. I slowly and carefully walked closer to them to get photos of them. While I was taking photos of one of them it got low to the ground like it was trying to hide from something. The last time I had seen a shorebird do this a Peregrine falcon flew over but this time I didn’t see any raptors fly over. After a few moments it stood back up and the other shorebirds (that had flew about the same time the Lesser yellowlegs had ducked down) were back and acting normal. I walked around the beach more and saw some Short-billed and Long-billed dowitchers, Black-bellied plovers and Greater yellowlegs. While I was walking on the trail toward the visitor center I heard a Orange-crowned warbler singing.Lesser yellowlegs

I proceeded from the park to the Turnaround. When I got to the Turnaround I saw that there were some shorebirds out by the water so I walked out there. They were Dunlins, Semipalmated plovers, Western sandpipers, Short-billed dowitchers and a couple of Marbled gowits. I sat down on a dry spot on the gritty, rotten egg smelling, mud and watched the birds for a while. After I was done watching the bird I got up and walked towards the lake. Short-billed dowitcher

When I was walking up the side of the lake I saw a brown swallow flying around. It took me a few moments before I decided that it might not be normal here and I should try to get photos of it. I was able to get a few not very good photos before it disappeared. I walked over and sat down on a bench to wait and see what was there and watch for the swallow. After a bit I saw the swallow again. It was obviously more brown than the Tree swallows that were around and it appeared to have a brown throat and half brown belly. It disappeared again and I was left anxiously sitting there thinking that it might be a Northern rough-winged swallow, which would be rare for the state and would be the first one I have seen in Alaska, and trying to decided weather or not I should send dad a text since I wasn’t supper sure that it was a Northern rough-winged swallow. I decided that I should text him just in case it was a Northern rough-winged swallow. Shortly after I was done texting with him it showed back up and I was able to get good looks at it and feel more confident that it was a Northern rough-winged swallow. I watched it for quite a while trying to get photos of it before it landed on a wire and I was able to get better photos of it and see that it was indeed a Northern rough-winged swallow. Which means I now have 200 Photographed birds in Alaska!Northern rough-winged swallow

After I left the lake I went back by the park. The tide was up so there weren’t very many birds there. There were a few gulls and a couple of Marbled godwits. I crossed the river again then headed across the estuary for home. On my way across the estuary I saw that there was sand floating as the tide same in.    Floating sand