Outdoors columnist John Schandelmeier takes stock of Alaska’s avian population as they reckon with the tail end of a challenging winter.
It isn’t exactly spring yet, but with the return of daylight there is beginning to be hope. It is always surprising when the snow melts. We were just getting used to it. The birds are definitely getting happier. Great horned owls are booming their mating calls. Camp robbers, aka gray jays, are livelier; they realize warmer days are coming. There is no need to rush around as in the short days, caching food.
The Tangles have open water all months of the year — complete with enough whitefish to support an eagle or two. There are also several decent flocks of mallards that stay around Tangle Lakes, Dickey Lake and the outlet of Paxson Lake. An aggressive eagle can pick off one of those ducks on occasion. There are two species of birds I can’t figure. Pigeons and ravens. They amaze me. Where do they find enough food in the winter months? The pigeons that fly around Fairbanks and Anchorage seem to do well. They poke around parking lots at various stores — picking at something. We keep pigeons — penned — and they need a fair amount of feed. Water is also nice.Water and food are in limited supply during the short Fairbanks days.
The December ice storm likely made life tougher for many of our over-wintering birds. Owls that depend on voles had to move elsewhere. A normal winter will find many voles on top of the snow pack. Not this winter. The voles can’t get through the ice crust. An unknown number of spruce grouse and ruffed grouse undoubtedly were imprisoned under the ice — grouse sleep under the snow at night — and didn’t get out.
Winter Food Eagle Raven Snow Bird Flock String Ice Pigeons Pigeon Water Area Spring Grouse Shrike Vole Voles Yard Days Amount Number Birds Daylight
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