The only safe hobby left

We live in crazy times. Most of us are locked down, prevented from our usual pastimes and hobbies by inability to travel or meet others. So I'd like to pitch birdwatching to you as the one activity that's still safe and easy to do - no travel required! It will take you outdoors but to places where you won't meet many other people, and it'll create a sense of purpose to those aimless weekend walks. And if you want to be competitive (either with friends or with yourself), start counting the number of different birds you see - I challenge you to get up to 50 on any given day, and to 100 in two months!

The next two months are the height of the birdwatching season, with the spring migration starting to build up in April and exploding in May. Here is what you can expect and see in the Northeastern US:

In March and April, Pileated Woodpeckers (the largest woodpeckers in the US) are very visible as they are making their nest-holes in the woods with mature trees.


You will also find handsome Northern Flickers, which are woodpeckers that feed on the ground (as well as in the trees):


In late March, the sparrow spring migration starts. The first to arrive are these cute small Chipping Sparrows - watch for them in forest clearings, or even on your bird feeders.


Other early spring arrivals are the wading birds - herons and egrets, including the striking Yellow-crowned Night Herons.


In April, as the insects are starting to hatch en masse, the first flycatchers arrive. The Eastern Phoebe will be the first of them. It hunts for insects from a favorite perch, usually a bit above eye level. Watch for Phoebes in your parks and forests:


The Palm Warbler is the first warbler to arrive in our area, in early April. It's a small, restless warbler that always bobs its tail and never stays still.


Later in April, we will see a flight of kinglets, such as this Golden-crowned Kinglet. These tiny balls of energy catch insects by flying around and flushing their wings to scare the gnats off tree branches.


Meanwhile, on the coasts, the shorebird migration is building up. The beaches are still empty, but you will find Oystercatchers and Semipalmated Plovers preparing to nest. Other birds, such as these Dunlins, Sanderlings, and Black-bellied Plovers are just passing through.




Mid-April is also the time of the raptor migration. Hawks and eagles will be coming up from the south, heading to Canadian forests and the Arctic.


Later in April, the more colorful passerines will start to arrive, including these cool Cedar Waxwings:


You will also see the common Baltimore Orioles...


... and the less common Orchard Orioles (this is a female, the males are brick-red):


If you live near grasslands, you should start seeing Eastern Meadowlarks in early May:


Mid-May is the peak of the spring migration, and we will get an explosion of colorful warblers. You can see more than 20 species in one day, including these Blackburnian Warblers:


Black-throated Blue Warblers:


and Wilson's Warblers:


In addition to other tropically-colored songbirds, such as this Scarlet Tanager:


I'd like to close this post with a commonly ignored bird that would be a tourist magnet if it were more local and rare: the Northern Cardinal. It is exceptionally beautiful, and easy to see in our area year-round. So find your binoculars, and go out there (and stay 6 feet away from other birdwatchers!)

Saint Paul island

The island of Saint Paul is in the middle of the Bering Sea, and it's probably the most remote place that I've ever been to. It's got one of the highest zip codes in the USA!



The permanent population is less than 500 people, mostly fishermen.






It's got interesting demographics, a relic of of how it was exploited throughout history. The majority of the population is Native American - Aleutian, to be exact - but the main religion is Christian Orthodox. This is because the Aleuts were first brought there by Russian fur traders in 1788. After Alaska was sold to the USA, the Russians left, but they left the Aleuts and their religion behind.






And this is our restaurant. Its entrance is up the staircase in the middle:


Actually, it was a cafeteria of the seafood processing plant - the only industry on the island. (If you watched "Deadliest Catch", this is where the captains took all their crabs to be processed.) It doesn't look like much, but the food was delicious, and the seafood was absolutely fresh!


I've been to jungles of Asia, Central America, and Manhattan, but only in Saint Paul I truly understood the law of the jungle:


The one and only gas station on the island:


Crab traps fill the space near the main road:




Believe it or not, they are also birding hotspots. They make perfect hiding places. Some of the birds found there in the past included things like Asian owls. (We didn't find anything on our visit, though...)






The placard of our hotel...


... which also serves as the island's airport:


The island is services by Ravn airline, with flights every two days.




Space on the plane is limited... especially since one row is taken by the life rafts.

Homer, AK wildlife

The first you notice in the waters around Homer is multitudes of sea otters - sometimes a few at a time, sometimes rafts of a dozen or more:







Also in the bay around homer is Common Murres, in flocks of hundreds or thousands:






A little further into the bay, there is an island called Gull Island. It is very appropriately named - you definitely notice them as you approach:


Strictly speaking, the birds nesting there are not gulls but kittawakes - Black-legged Kittawakes to be exact. (There are also endangered Red-legged Kittawakes - more about them in my later posts.)


The name "kittawake" derives from the call these birds make. And with thousands of them nesting on the island, they are definitely noisy!




Sometimes, when they sense danger, the whole colony takes off at once:








Kittawakes are not the only animals on the island - some seals come to relax as well:


Another island in Kachemak Bay does't have a lot of animals, but it's got really interesting rock formations:


As you come close, you can see that the cliffs are made of some very intensely layered rock:






You can imagine the force that was required to compress and bend these rocks:


Parting shot: