Talkeetna-Trapper Creek Birdathon 2019 Report

Over the weekend, Talkeetna and Trapper Creek residents wore rubber boots and binoculars, carried scopes, bird books and phones with birding apps, while searching sky and open water for their quarry: an avian species they yet seen or heard since the start of Birdathon.

Raincoats and windbreakers were donned during squalls and came off during sunny breaks in the clouds.

Though individual totals were low, the group total was 64 species, near average for the annual event.  The soundscape was often lively with the songs of just a few species: ruby-crowned kinglets, American robins, and dark-eyed juncos.  Otherwise, birding was reported as slow, with many migrants not yet here, and a lack of waterfowl flocks, few birds of prey, or shorebirds.

Slow birding indeed:  One participant drove to Potter Marsh south of Anchorage to see a rare Falcated Duck. When he got back to the Birdathon count circle many hours later, his friend had added only one other species to his list.

At 41 species, there was a tie for the trophy between Jim Trump and the team of Deborah Brocke and Jeff Robinson. The highest-listing green birder was Bill FitzGerald.