Horny Birds = Crazy Birders

Well, it finally happened. Spring has sprung here in Seward. The birds are arriving in droves and they are, to put it bluntly, horny as hell. But then, I think everyone would be if you only got to get it on once every year...if you're lucky. The forests around Exit Glacier are particularly deafening lately, as every single male bird is currently singing his guts out. Varied Thrushes are so excited right now that they aren't even waiting their turn to sing, instead trying to out-"REEM" their neighbors by belting it out in the middle of another's song. Not to be outdone, the tiny little Ruby-crowned Kinglets are filling the air with the loudest song in relation to body size of any bird in North America. Even the haunting warble of the Hermit Thrush doesn't sound quite so melancholy at this time of year.

Then we've got the guy pictured above. This impressive looking Spruce Grouse has recently claimed a section of the Harding Icefield Trail as his own personal clubhouse, and seems to think any type of intrusion into his space an insult of the highest order. Doesn't matter if you look like another grouse or not, he doesn't want you there.

The arrival of spring migrants, and their hormone-induced choruses, signal the start of another annual occurance up here in Alaska...an event as bizarre as those who participate in it. You've heard of telathons and readathons before. Heck, they've got "athons" for just about anything nowadays. But there's one "athon" that trumps them all for the sheer number of blank stares and dumbfounded exclaimations of "you actually do that?!" that it generates. The Farthest North Birdathon!

Next week I will be participating in another attempt to break Alaska's single-day birding record during the annual Farthest North Birdathon. I, along with a 16 year old birding genius from Fairbanks, will be spending one calendar day (midnight to midnight) racing across south-central Alaska looking and listening for as many different species as possible.

But it's more than just a competition to see who can find the most birds. This is also the primary source of funding for both the Arctic Audubon Society and the Alaska Bird Observatory. So, I need to collect pledges and donations from any who would like to sponsor my birdathon this year. You've got two options. You can either pledge a per-species amount, which will obviously depend on how many species we find this year (we're hoping for 131), or you can donate a fixed amount. If anyone is interested in sponsoring me for this event, feel free to send me an email with your name and the amount you would like to pledge/donate.

My team this year is planning an ambitious, yet not quite ridiculously long, route. We will be starting our day at 12:00am in Anchorage, probably camped out in the yard of another birder who told us about some Northern Hawk Owls that have been calling every night from the woods nearby. We will then spend the better part of eight hours scouring the Anchorage area and the Mat-Su Valley as we try to squeeze out every last bird before heading south down the Seward Highway, where a short (90 mile) detour will hopefully result in a handful of unique shorebirds. Finally, we plan to arrive in Seward sometime around 7:30 in the evening, at which time we will board a fast boat for the Chiswell Islands, a favorite haunt of puffins, kittiwakes, cormorants and auklets. Then, at 11:59pm, just as the last of the twilight disappears, we hope to be parked on the side of Exit Glacier Road straining for the distant call of the now unusually common (in Seward, anyway) Western Screech Owl.

Remember, by sponsoring me for this birdathon you, too, can be part of Alaskan birding history!

Now who wouldn't want that?