Some Exciting New Arrivals

Last evening was the nicest day of the year so far. I know I just posted some new artwork yesterday but I want to put up some of the photos from yesterday's walk along the coastal trail.

I would trade all the regular migrant shorebirds for this one bird in the photo above. It may not be much to look at, but I have only seen a handful of Wandering Tattlers in my life. It's been about a decade since I've seen one, and never along the Anchorage Coastal Trail.

This Wandering Tattler was foraging along the muddy banks of Fish Creek, just south of Westchester Lagoon. This is the only tattler that I have been able to photograph. Too bad the light was so harsh.

Another new arrival. There were a number of Hudsonian Godwits like these two courting birds. There were several Whimbrels and yellowlegs as well.

There were four Sandhill Cranes but only one that was close to the trail.

The coastal trail swarmed with noisy people and dogs, but this crane appeared to be unconcerned about them.

These are the best Sandhill Crane photos that I have been able to get. Once again it's a shame that the light was so harsh in the late afternoon sunshine.

There were still Green-winged Teal in the same pond where I photographed them before. The little pond was right next to where the Sandhill Crane foraged, and just north of Fish Creek.

Right below Westchester Lagoon, the Gadwalls were still in their little pond.

These are the best Gadwall photos that I have been able to get as well.

There was some Muskrat love goin on in the same pond as the Gadwalls, although I could only get one to pose for me.

I dont know if Muskrats ever dry their fur out completely. These are the best photos I have of them also.

Although it's a blurry photo, I like this Arctic Tern in flight.

My first Shovelers of the Spring were on Westchester Lagoon.

Buffleheads were still on the lake as well.

Some New Artwork

So far, Sea Otters and puffins have been a sure sell for me in Gary's gallery, The Sea Lion, in Homer Alaska. No matter how badly I paint them, I have sold every one that I have sent to the gallery. I think Sea Otters are pretty cool, but to me they are a boring subject to paint. It has been very difficult for me to come up with an interesting composition with them. I already forgot the name of this 8x10" painting.

As you can see from these two Sea Otter paintings, I have been in a bit of a creative slump since my return from Uganda. This is a larger painting, 12x16". I forget the name of this one as well.

Although I have painted many puffins, they have all been Tufted Puffins. This is the first Horned Puffin painting I can remember doing. It looks terrible to me. I'm almost certain that it will sell anyway. It's another 8x10" painting.

Normally I sketch out the basic elements of a painting before applying paint with a brush. With this 4x6" miniature I just started painting without even knowing what animal I was going to paint. The whole thing only took an hour or so to paint. I am satisfied with how it turned out.

Things started to come together creatively with this, 9x12" Goshawk painting. I will probably make a few adjustments with it. The angle of the bird's legs looks wrong to me. The tree could use some work as well.

Life in the Clouds, 16x20". Finally, I feel like I'm almost back on top of my game. The actual painting looks so much better than the photo. It is a pair of Plate-billed Mountain Toucans in the Andean cloud forest of western Ecuador.

The idea I had in my head was very different and I suffered some frustration that I could'nt get the painting to look as good as I wanted it to look. That is the way it goes with most of my paintings. Now I'm off to the coastal trail to see what has just showed up from the south.

More Spring Arrivals

The weather lately has been wonderful, and it is predicted to continue so. Last evening I rode my bicycle through Russian Jack Park. It was over-run by people but I managed to see the Snowshoe Hare above. It was already wearing it's Summer coat.

Last evening I also saw my first Varied Thrush of the season. It has the most incredible song. It can actually produce two seperate tones simultaneously.

The park was also suddenly flush with large numbers of singing Robins.

Today was too nice to stay indoors and work so I headed back to the Coastal Trail and environs. Above a pair of Gadwalls squabbles with a nearby pair.

A beautiful male Green-winged Teal. It is the smallest of North American ducks.

The Green-wings cooperated well for photos today.

Just one last portrait.

A preening drake American Widgeon.

Today was the first time in about ten years that I have seen Sandhill Cranes on Fish Creek. They used to nest here, but disappeared because of human disturbance on this urban creek. I kept my distance.

The shorebirds have still not arrived yet. There was only a few yellowlegs today. This is a Greater Yellowlegs and a sleeping hen Green-winged Teal.

A closer photo of the yellowlegs.

There was also only one Lesser Yellowlegs.

These are a mix of Greater Scaup and Canvasback.

Red-necked Grebes are abundant in the Summer months. I'll probably head back on Thursday or Friday to see if more birds arrive soon.

Early Spring Birds & Stuff

The main push of migrating shorebirds shows up around here about May 10th. Warblers and flycatchers arrive a little later in May. So my intention was to head over to the Coastal Trail and Westchester Lagoon next week.

The weatherman predicted rain for next week and today was bright and sunny. I had to strike now even though most of the migrants are'nt here yet. There are Mew Gulls in the foreground of the photo above, and you can barely see the Sleeping Lady on the horizon line. The only shorebirds I saw today was a Whimbrel, (possible Bristle-thighed Curlew). I also heard a few other things and briefly glimpsed something that behaved like a snipe but it was smaller and had a plain back.

Muskrats dont usually cooperate for close photos. This guy was beside the Coastal Trail.

A sleeping Arctic Tern on it's usual perch in Westchester Lagoon. I also saw some Canada Geese, Green-winged Teal, Mallards, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Greater Scaup, Red-necked Grebes, and a single Bonaparte's Gull.

I moved along the lakeshore a little and waited for the tern to wake up.

Another tern landed even closer to me and the first bird left. It made me wonder if they are sitting on eggs nearby and were trading places on the nest.

This bird had a feather stuck to it's beak. Although I have so many photos of Arctic Terns, when they sit and pose so well, I have to take more photos.

Just one final shot before I move on to something else.

I moved on to Spenard Crossing and saw several  Barrow's Goldeneyes.

They are only here for a week or so each spring and then they move inland to nest. There is a Red-necked Grebe building a nest in the background. The ice has only been melted for a few days at Spenard Crossing. Half of Westchester Lagoon is still covered by ice.

Then I came across a giant Herring Gull that gobbled up the Mallard at it's feet. (a joke of course).

When I first moved here 14 years ago, Glaucous-winged Gulls were the predominate large gull around these parts. Gradually Herring Gulls have moved in and hybridized with the Glaucous-winged. Now you see mostly just Herring Gulls around Spenard Crossing.

A final portrait of a Magpie. No doubt I will return to the Coastal Trail one day next week.

Racing Down the Knik River

The photo above shows the flat bottomlands of the Knik River about 35 miles east of Anchorage. It is surrounded by majestic mountains that are covered by snow most of the year. The river is born at the base of Knik Glacier, and empties into the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet, (Pacific Ocean).

My friend Dan, his teenaged son Danny, and I started our journey at the railroad bridge. The area has been designated as a recreational use area. That means ORV's. Dan owns four of them. In some places in Alaska and just about everywhere else, ORV's do great environmental damage. They destroy sensitive salmon spawning streams along the coast. Drunken rednecks chase down wildlife, and shoot up the countryside. They spread litter far and wide, and enable fat, lazy jerks to get into the wilderness without working hard to get there. The problem is especially bad in isolated villages that have no roads to speak of. Alcohol and stupidity seem to accompany ORV's all too often.

Here Danny hotdogs as much as he could dare in front of his father. There were some morons doing the same thing on a speeding car nearby. Anyway, back to my rant about 4-wheelers. They cause permanent damage out on the tundra, and especially erosion all over the Southwestern deserts. I hate what they do, but I sure love riding them.

Dan and his son are nothing like the unscrupulous rednecks I have been describing. They are very conscientious about where they ride and how they interact with wildlife. The Knik River bottomlands handle the impact of 4-wheelers better than most areas.

Danny leaves us in the dust.

There are a few people who live along the river. Those who are too close to the river occasionally lose everything when the river changes course, or overflows it's banks. They also complain bitterly about jackasses with guns that shoot indisciminately in the area. It's a wonder that any wildlife survives at all.

These homes are in the shadows of the surrounding mountains and see no sunshine all winter.

You can see that the Birch trees have not yet leafed out this far north. The snow has been gone for only a few weeks. There is still about three feet of snow around Dan's cabin on Goose Creek.

These are the Talkeetna Mountains.

The dominant mountain in the area is Pioneer Peak that I have photographed many times. It is part of the Chugach Range.

This is really just a blog post to show off the local scenery.

The trees on the right are Black Cottonwoods. They are the largest trees around these parts. Permafrost and harsh winters dwarf the trees somewhat.

The white streaks going down the mountainside are avalanche shutes.

The only wildlife we saw were a few ducks, a Hairy Woodpecker, and the ubiquitous Mew Gulls. There was lots of fresh Moose poop too.

The end of a fun day. Dan and Danny are setting the ramps in place before loading up the 4-wheelers.