Wednesday was the one nice-weather day for the Juneau trip, and it was the day most packed with birding. We had ourselves a quick breakfast before starting up Glacier Highway, making several stops en route to Point Bridget.
Stop one: Shrine of Saint Therese. We made a quick scan of the water, spotting harlequin ducks and a few (lifer!) marbled murrelets.
Stop two: Eagle Beach. This stop didn't seem promising at first glance. There were a few species of gulls swimming and soaring about, but the water was quite quiet. Then, while we were staring down at the shore, I saw a bird zip into a pack of berry bushes near our vehicle. On closer inspection, several species of birds were hopping about the vegetation including two lifers: MacGillivray's and Townsend's warblers!
Stop three: Point Bridget State Park
Our focus for the day was Point Bridget. The weather was absolutely perfect as we started from the trailhead and passed through the initial wooded section where our biggest worry was the stream of young toads hopping about our footsteps on the trail.
We made it out to the channel shore as low tide was winding down and skipped our way out along the rocks to get a closer look at a pack of seven or so harbor seals, then found a nice place to sit and enjoy a snack. While we ate, we grew distracted with a strange shape floating in the water and fooled ourselves into believing it to be a young harbor pup with a piece of kelp, but alas . . .
It was only kelp. We did, however, get to see a score of surf scoters, more murrelets and gulls and my first black-legged kittiwake! After eating our share, we headed back on the trail, making a little detour to check a lake which was entirely free of ducks and other birds, so far as we could tell.
We headed back down Favorite Channel, returning to the shrine where a raven and marmots were entertaining visitors.
