Seward and Resurrection Bay

 Alaska 2014

Now that the holiday madness, as well as some family drama, is behind me, I can get back to a regular schedule and start blogging again!

We left off in Seward, Alaska, where we had arrived after a drive from Homer, where we'd spent the afternoon touring Kachemak Bay. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Seward, and we all met in the lobby the next morning for our continental breakfast. We weren't due to board our tour boat until around 9 am, so a couple of us took a walk across the street to do a little birding.

Directly across from the hotel is The Lagoon, a small body of water fed by Scheffler Creek, with a small park at one end. Right off we spotted a Wilson's Snipe exploring the mudflats.

A Wilson's Snipe tip-toes along the muddy shore of The Lagoon.

We continued down Dairy Hill Lane, looking for nothing in particular, enjoying the bright blue morning. Up the hill we climbed when one of us spotted movement on the underside of a transformer. We could see a little bird gleaning insects and spiders, but not until he flew down did we see we'd discovered a Chestnut-backed Chickadee! I didn't even know this bird existed, so I was pretty excited. (Bill took the whole group to this location the next morning so the rest of them could log this bird.)

A Chestnut-backed Chickadee! Who knew!

After about a half hour we headed back toward the marina, and spotted this Violet-green swallow preening on a wire.

Violet-green Swallow taking its morning bath.

The area around the marina is very touristy, with lots of cute shops and restaurants. We didn't really have time to look around much, but this would be a nice place to spend a few days and enjoy the scenery.

Seward Harbor.

Seward Harbor. Next time I want to kayak Resurrection Bay.

We eventually boarded our Northwestern Fjord tour boat, and motored out onto Resurrection Bay. I have to say that of all the amazing things we saw and did on this trip, this was my favorite part. Not only was it the most beautiful, but it was a very restful day, after so much running around. We spent the entire day out there, riding in the open air with the sun shining, able to move about the boat at will. We were served lunch, and the boat captain knew there were several groups of birders aboard and so made a point to linger in places we wanted to look. The captain sounded an awful lot like Jack Nicholson.

Seward Harbor from Resurrection Bay.

Our ultimate destination was Northwestern Glacier, part of the Harding Ice Shield. On the way we expected to see whales, sea lions, seals, otters, maybe orcas and porpoises, and, of course, birds.

We would not be disappointed.

Map showing our route from Seward.

It was such a glorious day!

We hadn't gone far--I believe the marina was still in view behind us--when a humpback whale breached off the port side of our boat. I wasn't ready with the camera but just to see it launch itself out of the water and come thundering back down was an astonishing thing. It only breached once, so if you didn't happen to be looking you were out of luck. But there were several right there in the bay, and we got to see--and hear--them come up for air.

Humpback whale!!

Then the one closest to the boat went tail up, the sign of a deep dive. I was thrilled to get a shot of the fluke before the whale disappeared. They can stay under for 15 minutes during a dive like this, so we did not linger.

A humpback shows its flukes as it dives deep.

Off in the distance another whale could be seen swimming south, the mist from its exhalations hanging in the calm Alaska morning.

This is one of my favorite shots of the trip. Such a beautiful sight on such a glorious morning.

And this was just the beginning!

Next: More from Resurrection Bay.

Homer to Seward, Alaska Day 5

Alaska 2014 continued:

Day five of our ten day birding tour of Alaska was a very full day, to say the least. We started the day at 7 am with a quick breakfast, then drove the spectacular Sterling Highway along Cook Inlet from Soldotna to Homer, where we were treated to amazing views of five volcanoes. Then three-plus hours on a boat in Kachemak Bay where we saw a stunning array of pelagic birds and, of course, sea otters.

We left Homer around 3:30 pm and drove back north along the Sterling Highway. There's no direct way to get from Homer to Seward as there are three large lakes and this little thing known as the Harding Ice Shield between the two. Then again, in Alaska, this is about as direct as it gets.

The route from Homer to Seward, mostly on Sterling Highway.

We stopped again at Anchor Point for a late lunch. The tide was out but there were still very few Bald Eagles on the flats. Fishermen use the launch here and often leave gut piles from their fish on the beach, but apparently the pickings were slim this day.

Some of our group getting ready to pose in front of the sign.

I took five minutes to just lay in the grass at the picnic area, soaking up the sun and relaxing, and to admire once more the view of Mt. Redoubt. I had never seen anything like it.

Mt. Redoubt revisited, because why not? Simply stunning.

I don't recall there being many songbirds around, but there were a number of crows. I didn't think right away to get pics until I realized this was a new bird for me. Duh!

Northwest Crow at Anchor Point.

The rest of the drive to Seward seemed to take forever. We got caught up in traffic as there was some construction on the two-lane highway. While we waited we rolled the windows down and someone heard a Townsand's Warbler on the side of the road. Bill wouldn't let us get out and I couldn't see it from where I was sitting, so I couldn't count it for the day.

We finally arrived in Seward around 7:30-8:00 pm. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express, then walked over to Chinooks for dinner. What an amazing view of the marina and the mountains beyond Resurrection Bay.

Evening in Seward, overlooking the marina.

After dinner about half of our group climbed back in the van to do a little late evening birding. There is a woman north of town who puts out many feeders and brings some interesting birds in, like the Rufus Hummingbird. On the way we stopped at a marshy area to look for waterfowl. The lush greens and dark spruce with the snow-tipped mountains and blue sky were painfully beautiful. We got out for a little while to enjoy the serenity of the place.

North of Seward.

We didn't see much here, just a pair of Ring-necked Ducks and a pair of Trumpeter Swans. Mama was on the nest but dad was a bit closer to the road, preening and stretching.

Trumpeter Swans have amazingly large feet.

There wasn't much to see at the feeders. We didn't get out of the van--who wants a group of gawking birders in your front yard?--but we did see a couple female Pine Grosbeaks, among some other more common (for us) birds like Downy Woodpeckers. But on the way back we stopped on the side of the road near some spruce and managed to entice a Varied Thrush to come for a visit. It's a lousy photo but it was a first, so....

Varied Thrush.

In all I saw 30 birds on day five, 15 which were new to me:

Black-capped chickadee
American Robin
Varied Thrush*
Yellow-rumped warbler
Pine Grosbeak
Pine Siskin
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Violet-green swallow*
Trumpeter Swan
Ring-necked Duck
Common Raven
Northwestern Crow*
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant*
Surf Scoter*
Barrow's Goldeneye*
Bald Eagle
Spotted Sandpiper
Herring Gull
Glaucous-singed Gull*
Black-legged Kittiwake*
Aleutian Tern*
Common Murre*
Pigeon Guillemot*
Horned Puffin*
Tufted Puffin*
White-winged Scoter*
Marbled Murrelet*
Harlequin Duck

Next: Day six, and an all-day boat trip on Resurrection Bay!!