On the first day of 2024 Juneau birding, I netted three lifers near the Favorite Channel. The next day was constant rain and gave my friend and I a buffer day which we used to run errands and watch some movies, paintball, and Melee.
The next day, May 26th, would see on/off drizzle under steady clouds, and after breakfast, my friend and I headed over to the Perseverance trailhead. There, we met my friend's partner and these familiar faces:
The goals for Perseverance were Sooty Grouse and Rock Ptarmigan, so under the clouds we hit the trail.
It was all mammals early on--squirrels, porcupines and a very distant mountain goat. Squint at the middle of the third picture here and you might make out the goat's fuzzy, white shape.
The next big sightings were some birds that I saw in Juneau two years ago. We were passing over Gold Creek when I spotted the little bobbing gestures of an American Dipper--the bird which took my friend and I hours of wandering along fast-running streams and creeks in 2022 to find. After crossing the stream, the trail opens up which let us really hear the calls of Sooty Grouse and let us spot a male Townsend's Warbler foraging among the spruce.
The precipitation opened up as well, going from drizzle to light rain. We continued along the Gold Creek, scanning the surrounding mountainsides for ptarmigans while Hermit Thrushes mewed and flitted about the rocks and brush. The further we got up Perseverance, the thicker the snow got. We paused at one point to assess and scan.
Somehow, I managed to see that Rock Ptarmigan through my 500mm. Appearing even smaller than the goat from earlier, the ptarmigan is the white spec at the top of triangular rock formation (centered in the photo). We take those.
Sooty Grouse: heard. Rock Ptarmigan: (barely) seen. Goals achieved. I made the call to turn back down the trail despite my friend's suggestion that we could try and get closer to the ptarmigan. We hustled through the snowy spots and were back at the vehicles about a half and five hours after starting out. We said goodbye to my friend's partner and went our separate ways. While on the highway to my friend's place, I spotted some Northern Shovelers on the Twin Lakes, so we made a quick pitstop to watch them and an energetically foraging pair of Greater Yellowlegs.
From there, it was dinner and lazing before sleep. The next day would be a big one.
