We were up at 05:00 and headed to Hillside Park where we birded from 06:00-09:00. This was a lovely mixed area of forest with maple, oak and pines but full of mozzies.
We birded a few miles along the various trails accessible from the car park at the eastern end of Abbott Road. Highlights here were American Three-toed Woodpecker , Varied Thrush (a male and female both carrying food), Swainson’s Thrush , Hermit Thrush , Townsend’s Warbler , Wilson’s Warbler , Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler , Two-barred Crossbill , Boreal Chickadee , Black-capped Chickadee and Grey Jay .
After a pizza breakfast in the car park we headed to the airport for a 12:15 flight to St. Paul refuelling at Dillingham and landing at 15:10 on St.Paul Island.
Varied Thrush (female) – Hillside Park, Anchorage
Varied Thrush (female) – Hillside Park, Anchorage
Boreal Chickadee (race colombianus) – Hillside Park, Anchorage
Boreal Chickadee (race colombianus) – Hillside Park, Anchorage
Black-capped Chickadee (or race turneri). Some birders speak of confusion with this species and Boreal Chickadee but these really are quite different looking birds – Hillside Park, Anchorage
Three-toed Woodpecker (of race fasciatus) – Hillside Park, Anchorage
Slate-coloured Junco (of nominate race hyemalis)- Hillside Park, Anchorage
Two-barred Crossbill (of nominate race leucoptera) – Hillside Park, Anchorage
Townsend’s Warbler – Hillside Park, Anchorage
Swindon’s Thrush – Hillside Park, Anchorage
Simon Colenutt
I began birdwatching at the age of nine when living on the Isle of Wight. After obtaining a copy of the Isle of Wight Bird Report from 1976 I realised that Manx Shearwater, Arctic Skua, Pomarine Skua and Black Tern were regularly seen at St.Catherine's Point, only five miles from my home village of Chale Green. To a nine year old these birds were near mythical and so I just had to go and try to see them. Little did I know that these birds were seasonal and after a long winter of seeing nothing I eventually started to bump into other birdwatchers as March drew to a close. It was then that Dave Hunnybun, Dave Wooldridge, Paul Castle, Peter Gandy and Audrey Wilkinson introduced me to the art of seawatching and the joys of bird migration, I have not looked back since.
Leave a Reply