Category: Birding

A Brambling, a Eurasian species that occasionally visits the northern part of Alaska, was reported at a residence in Ferndale . On Sunday, 1/24, probably 30 birders were welcomed into the home and allowed to wait. When he did arrive, I was only able to shoot through a window at a marked angle so my pictures stink but they should serve as proof.  It was my first new life bird since 2013. Let’s hope it is the first of several such.

We were visiting the “SeeCo” ponds on Hiram Road near Heber Springs today to see a few Tundra Swans among the many Trumpeter Swans. The pictures below show a picture of an adult and a juvenile. I suspect the adult is not fully so as his yellow lore is not very striking and he still has some of the gray markings that you see in the juvenile. Note how much smaller the juvenile Tundra is compared to the Trumpeters, not because he is juvenile but because Tundras are smaller. Not so obvious are some differences in the bill. Also pictured are a couple juvenile white morph Snow Geese. They seemed small to me but maybe that was because they were next to swans.