Owl Alert!

Couple weeks ago, we were walking back down the powerline toward the school. After we crossed the footbridge, I noticed a huge horned owl in a limb right over Tom's head. I frantically motioned at him and he finally caught on. A cat was hanging out in some bushes nearby and when the owl took flight, it raced out of there. Looked like a role reversal to us!

Alaska Bird Watch 2006 (and other animals)

Fishing:

Moose cow with two calves. Smelled a grizzly bear and saw scat.

Potter's Marsh:

Harlequin duck hens and chicks (left), but no males. We also saw king salmon and red salmon. Dahl sheep were on Turnagain arm. A mom and and a kid.

Seward (Resurrection Bay):

Many bald eagles, horned puffins (below), tufted puffins, actric terns, common murres, cormorants, guillmot, and Barrow's golden eye. We saw either a juvenile bald eagle or a golden eagle. In addition we saw 2 harbor seals, 2 sea otters, several orcas, 1 humpback whale, many sea lions, pink and silver salmon, and one black bear on the rocks that picked up a sea gull and ran back in the woods. Fun Fact: Puffins are nicknamed "flying potatoes" because they are awkward in the air. They are much better at "flying" underwater.

Denali National Park:

Many willow ptarmigan (very dumb bird), gray jay, 2 common loons, 1 northern harrier hawk, 1 short-eared owl, and a gull. We also saw 9 grizzly bears, 13 caribou, 3 gray wolf pups, 1 beaver, about 30 dahl sheep, a rabbit, 1 live ground squirrel, 1 red fox carrying a dead, decapitated ground squirrel.

Neat Animal Encouter: The red fox was trotting down the road with dead, decaptitated ground squirrel while short-eared owl tried to get the vixen to drop it by dive bombing. The vixen couldn't care less.

On July 2nd, Erin Behrenhausen and Skye each flushed a blue grouse at State Wildlife Area in Wyoming north of the the Hohnholz Lakes State Wildlife Area in Colorado and south of Woods Landing. Erin's bird ran down a hill of clumpy sage into the Tamarisk by the Laramie River and Skye's bird exploded out of a clump and flew up into a tree next to the river.

Turkey Vultures, a yellow-bellied warbler, a canyon wren, and black birds sitting by the highway were seen on the river trip.

Three roosters on Saturday - flushed, that is. Skye and Iris did some good off-season work at Cherry Creek State Park. The next several weeks will be back to fundamentals for Skye.

Welcome to Mayor Tom's official bird log blog.