Brings all the birdwatchers to the yard

[sholio]

It FINALLY feels like spring today, after several days of spitting snow and 20F highs with windchill down to 0F. Still, the shorebird and waterfowl migration is in full swing, and since I was in town today, I stopped by Creamer's Field (local migratory bird refuge and stopover on the North American migration corridor) to check out the trumpeter swans.

I do truly love Fairbanks: I pulled in and the parking lot at the viewing area (at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday) was full. And it's a large parking lot! Everyone was all out there being hushed and delighted and photographing the swans and the swarms of geese and ducks. I love how into this kind of thing everyone here is.





Click to embiggen.

We really do have an absolutely disgusting amount of snow for late April. The cleared parts of the field are only because it's been plowed back. Meanwhile, the birds are remarkably unconcerned about cars and people. One of the things I love about this place is that the viewing area is right there by the parking lot; you're actually only a few feet away from the birds when they're out like this. The wooden fence you can see in the foreground of the top pic is the one the public stands behind. (The management scatters bird-friendly grain to keep them up front, but it's really a win-win since they get a nice lunch to refresh them after their migration, and the public gets a good bird viewing experience.)

--

In other news, Tsalmoth (Vlad #16) is out today! I completely forgot about this until hamsterwoman was talking about it. I have not even started to read it! No spoilers, plz.

If you're interested, there's quite a nice discussion of Vlad and Morrolan in Dragon and Taltos going on in hamsterwoman's comments, no spoilers for the new book that I recall.

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

No Tsalmoth spoilers in that post :) -- although a Word of God thing I linked to in comments turned out to be more relevant to Tsalmoth than I expected.

I have now finished Tsalmoth (by basically blowing off everything else, lol) and it has predictably eaten my brain. Can't wait for more people to discuss it with!

non-Vlad P.S. Oh wow, so many swans!

[sholio]

I can't waaaaait. I'm hoping to start it tonight. :D

[sheron]

Oh god I had been meaning to read those Vlad books! /o\ So many books, so little time.

Lovely birds <3 We also have bird watching going on currently in the local parks. I'm hoping to drive down south to another nearby lake on the weekend to see some closer to a migratory spot.

[sholio]

There are definitely Too Many Books! I hope you do try them eventually, but there's a lot else going on right now.

I also hope you're able to see some nifty birds! I bet you get some good bird watching there during migration season.

[alchemise]

That's so cool! The birds are gorgeous.

[sholio]

It was definitely worth taking a little extra drive for!

[mrkinch]

How cool that they are so easy to see, and that people enjoy them! Looks like Canadas and greater white-fronteds with the swans? I'd stand out in the cold for that.:) Don't think I've ever been that close to trumpeter swans. Thank you!

[sholio]

Yes, I think the other ones are white-fronted geese; I'm pretty sure it's the only other large dark gray goose that we have as a regular migrator. There were certainly a lot of them! The pictures don't do justice to how many there were; some parts of the snow were simply carpeted with geese.

[silverflight8]

OMG trumpeter swans. I saw them for the first time this past Dec and almost teared up.

And that sure is some late season snow. All brown and clotted up with old grass and dirt, haha.

[sholio]

They're so huuuuuge. I've seen them from a distance quite a bit, but I was at the bird refuge a few years ago when we had a lot of them, and one came in flying right over my head and it was like holy waterfowl, Batman, that's a lot of bird! (That was when I looked it up and discovered they're the heaviest bird in North America and one of the heaviest in the world. I had no idea!)

Too bad the snow doesn't make a more scenic backdrop! 😅 It is definitely not the prettiest time of year for sure.

[philomytha]

Wow, those swans are huge, it’s having the geese next to them that gives a sense of scale.


I’ve never forgotten seeing a huge flock of swallows gathering before migrating south, there were thousands, it was an awesome and very noisy sight.

[yalumesse]

I love that you have this! Always nice to see so many people just appreciating nature, too.

[lunabee34]

*admires the birds*

[leesa_perrie]

Lots of swans and such like!! So great that you have a place where you get so close to them, and they don't mind (though, actually, the swans at local parks round here are pretty calm, outside of breeding season now anyway). Love how your local people flock to see the wildlife show too!

[sophia_sol]

ahhh I just got to see trumpeter swans for the first time myself recently! They are glorious. And I see you have white-fronted geese too, that's so awesome! I love that the folks in the area appreciate the migrating birds and come take a look.

[lokifan]

Aw, that's lovely that everyone's so into it!