Awesome Adventures in Alaska: 6/9/13

I've had an interest in birds for several years, and even gone out to specifically photograph them before. But I never really kept track of which ones I identified or anything like that. This year I decided to start keeping track and found a great phone app (National Geographic Birds) to use to keep track. Between that app and some birder friends, I was able to add several birds to my life list this year!

While there are very few birds in Alaska during the winter (ravens, magpie, and black-capped chickadees are the three main ones I can think of), lots of birds come to Alaska for the summer. Some travel an incredible distance to get here, like the arctic tern that travels from near Antarctica to even northern Alaska and back again each year. It's amazing they even have time to raise babies in there somewhere!

The main purpose of taking (lots of) bird photos this spring was to be able to identify them after I got home and have a record of what I saw. I'm not very good at quickly identifying them quickly when they don't sit still very long! While many of the photos are not good for anything other than identification at best (they're blurry, have branches blocking part of the bird, etc) I did manage to get a few neat shots along the way. Hopefully my memory of each bird's identification is correct here, as I'm putting this post together several months after they were taken. These are from a few different outings during late May and early June.

Connor's Lake in west Anchorage on 5/29/13:

Wilson's Warbler

Yellow-Rumped Warbler (this one as well as the next 3 photos)

Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage on 5/31/13:

I love the early morning light during the late spring when our days are long. I went to Westchester Lagoon after a midnight shift (at 5am) and enjoyed soft light, few people, and relative quiet. There was a couple that I met there who are birders and were visiting the area looking to add to their life list as well. Another thing I enjoy about those early morning walks!

A pair of Lesser Scaup (female on the right)

This one (the "duck", not the gull) was a tough one to identify and was pretty far away. I'm going to have to check into its name and come back to update this later.

Lesser (or Greater?) Scaup

Good ol' Mallard!

This mallard was sleeping even after I took its photo, but once I walked by he woke up and kept an eye on me.

Mew Gull

Green-winged Teal pair (male on the right)

Green-winged Teal male

Another Scaup. I love the reflections and early morning light!

Arctic Tern

Female Scaup

Potter Marsh just south of Anchorage on 6/1/13:

A Savannah Sparrow

American Wigeon

Lesser Yellowlegs

American Wigeon

Blue-winged Teal

Lesser Yellowlegs

Northern Shoveler

Lesser Yellowlegs

Rusty Blackbird

Black-capped Chickadee (in nest-building action!)

Blackpoll Warbler (Female)

I believe this is also a female Blackpoll Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Savannah Sparrow

Tree swallows are everywhere, but sometimes I still can't resist photographing them when I can get up close!

Potter Marsh 6/8/13:

Savannah Sparrow

There are no specific birds here, but this is a great view of part of Potter Marsh. You can see the Seward Highway in the distance (there are a couple cars/trucks there).