Tales from the Tundra: The Winged Heralds of a Long-Awaited Spring

This morning, March 16, we saw our first snow buntings of the year outside the Glennallen Fish & Game office! The flurry of small white birds with black backs and wingtips was deceptive amid the blowing, swirling snow on this late winter day. How exciting to witness their annual return to the Copper River Valley and to realize that they are among the first harbingers of the coming, long-awaited spring! After what seems like a genuine hard Alaskan winter, these winged messengers are a sight for sore eyes.

Is it our imagination or has this winter been truly harsh and fraught with all of the challenges that deep cold brings on? The March 9, 2006 NOAA Alaska Winter Climate Series summary by NOAA/NWS Senior Climate Scientist Brian Brettschneider clearly shows that the Copper River Valley (and all of Alaska) has officially experienced an “old school winter” with 6 weeks of deep cold from December through January, followed by two and a half weeks of warm weather near to or above freezing, followed again by another three weeks of deep cold in late February and into early March. 

Brettschneider also concluded that the Copper River Valley received “above to much above normal” snowfall, ranging from 105% and higher of average snowfall in lower elevations of the Copper River Valley, while the Wrangell Mountains were in the 162% of normal snowfall range. Yeah, it has definitely felt like an old school winter, for sure. 

But why? According to Brettschneider, Alaska experienced a La Niña weather pattern which indicates colder than average temperatures and increased snowfall. However, he also indicated and you will be glad to know that the La Niña effect is waning as spring and summer approach and is predicted to be replaced by an increasing  El Niño weather pattern starting in June, bringing warmer than average temperatures and below average precipitation for our summer and fall!

Until then, if you spend time outside yet this winter, watching and listening for signs of the coming spring, you’ll be encouraged to know that nature continues ever onward with its seasonal progression of life in spite of the lingering harsh winter weather. Our local resident species of owls— great grey owl, great horned owl, northern hawk owl, and boreal owl— have been busy over the past month or two with courtship through their nightly calls to attract mates and establish nesting territories. 

Even though their old nests are still covered with a thick layer of snow, great grey owls are known to revisit their established nest sites in March. Great horned owls begin nesting in early March on either an existing stick nest or in a tree cavity, keeping their eggs warm against a brood patch and under an insulative layer of downy feathers.

Likewise, paired-for-life common ravens have already begun their courtship displays and chatter, much to our delight. By mid-March, these pairs are roosting near their nesting site. While their behavior and vocalizations can be rather comical to the lucky observer, each carries intrinsic meaning to the receiving raven. 

“There is no mistaking the raucous call of the raven; the deep, resonant ‘kaw’ or ‘prruk prruk prruk’ is its trademark. However, the raven can produce an amazing assortment of sounds: mews, whistles, high-pitched cries, ’glooks,’ and dripping water sounds. One study in Alaska showed ravens have more than 30 distinct vocalizations” (ADF&G online, Common Raven Species Profile).

Just yesterday, March 15, thanks to our ever-vigilant, sky-watching, herding dog, we observed a bald eagle riding the currents so high above our home on a bluff near the upper Copper River, that it is simply amazing that our dog saw it at all. Presumably the eagle had returned to familiar summer territory, in anticipation of the coming nesting season. 

By mid-March large numbers of hawks, accipiters, buteos, and eagles – all raptors, or birds of prey – begin to trickle back into their Copper River Valley summer breeding range and arrive en masse by mid to late April. This is an exciting time for avid birders to stand watch along the Glenn Highway near Gunsight Mountain to observe these early season migrants come flooding back into the state. 

On April 18 and 19, the Anchorage Audubon Society in concert with Mat-Su Birders will host the annual Gunsight Mountain Hawkwatch Weekend. If you are interested in witnessing this awesome concentration of migrating raptors (and partaking of their potluck barbecue), check out the Mat-Su Birders website for more information.

During the second week of March, a persistent male hairy woodpecker began drumming against the side of our log house—a sign of aggression toward other would-be breeding males in the area— to establish its breeding territory. While we sincerely appreciate their instinctive behaviors on full display right outside the window, we’d prefer that it use the nearby aspen snag to hammer out its message of love so that we don’t need to run outside every few minutes to chase it away. 

Three other resident species of woodpeckers (downy, American three-toed, and black-backed) will soon be joined by their close Picidae relatives, the yellow-bellied sapsuckers and northern flickers in their yearly quest to raise up their own families on the Alaskan summer landscape.

Consistent with the increasing urge of most birds to establish themselves as a dominant breeder as winter gives way to spring, male grouse become less and less tolerant of other males in close proximity to themselves during March and April. Males have even begun to establish and defend their breeding territories while good weather persists but will abandon the cause if snowstorms return. Come late April or early May, these males are so charged up with testosterone that they will defend their breeding territory no matter what the weather throws at them. 

For male ruffed grouse, their territory is proclaimed with a rapid series of drumbeats created by their wings while perched atop a fallen log. It is absolutely one of our favorite wild behaviors to hear and observe each spring. The hearing of it begins with what feels like a slight change of air pressure deep within your ears and concludes with the joyous recognition of a ruffed grouse nearby drumming on its favorite fallen tree. Another “spring has arrived!” proclamation from an old friend. 

Spruce grouse males puff out their bright red eyebrows, flare their tail feathers, and strut about on their chosen breeding ground, hoping to attract a female grouse’s attention. Male sharp-tailed grouse bend at the hip, flare their tail, head, and neck feathers, spread their wings outward, and dance in circles for the attending female grouse. Grouse are simply spectacular!

With great anticipation, we can look forward to the second week of April to first hear the distant honking and then see a long line of trumpeter swans winging their way towards their summer breeding grounds. The Copper River Valley is blessed with an abundance of these beautiful large waterfowl each summer, thanks to our abundant wetlands scattered throughout the region. In tandem with the swans will be a great variety of smaller waterfowl, ducks, geese, loons, and grebes, etc. What an exciting time of year indeed!

Last but certainly not least is the return of a wide variety of passerines or songbirds to our Alaskan landscape with all their flashy colors and jubilant song, come May and into June. Their arrival coincides perfectly with a burst of insect life upon which a great majority of bird species depend for their survival. 

Have heart that while the La Niña winter weather pattern hangs on a bit longer, there is obvious reason and sign for hope out there. The birds are determinedly optimistic about the coming spring and we should be too.