Birds of Chignik Lake

As articles are published, readers will be able to click the below titles to go directly to them.

I. Introduction: The Chigniks – Avian Diversity and Change in a Remote, Unique Environment

II. List of Birds by Common Name (with scientific name), American Ornithologists’ Union Order

Section 1: Loons of Chignik

Sidebar: The Loons of The Lake

Section 2: Grebes, Petrel, Cormorants, Heron

Section 3: Swans, Geese and Ducks

Sidebar: Ice Changes Everything – Wintertime on the Frozen Chignik

Sidebar: Nature Watching & Nest Finding: an Exercise in Mindfulness

Section 4: Hawks, Eagles and Falcons

Section 6: Upland Game Birds

Willow Ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus

Section 7: Shorebirds, Gulls, Terns and Alcids

Section 8: Owls

Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus
Northern Saw-whet Owl Aegolius acadicus

Section 9: Kingfisher, Woodpecker, Shrike

Belted Kingfisher Ceryle alcyon
Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens
Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus
Northern Shrike Lanius excubitor

Section 10: Corvids

Black-billed Magpie Pica hudsonia
Common Raven Corvus Corax

Section 11: Swallows

Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor
Violet-green Swallow Tachycineta thalassina
Bank Swallow Riparia riparia

Section 12: Birds of White Spruce Grove

Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapilla
Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis
Pacific Wren Troglodytes pacificus
American Dipper Cinclus mexicanus
Golden-crowned Kinglet Regulus satrapa
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
American Robin Turdus migratorius
Gray-cheeked Thrush Catharus minimus
Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus
?American Pipit Anthus rubescens
Orange-crowned Warbler Vermivora celata
Yellow Warbler Dendroica petechia
Wilson’s Warbler Wilsonia pusilla
American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea
Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis
Fox Sparrow (Sooty) Passerella iliaca
Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia
Lincoln’s Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii
Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis (Species Overview)
- Slate-Colored form
- White-winged form
- Oregon form
Golden-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia atricapilla
White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis
Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis
Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra
White-winged Crossbill Loxia leucoptera
Pine Siskin Carduelis pinus
Common Redpoll Carduelis flammea
- Xanthochromic Common Redpoll rarity
Hoary Redpoll Carduelis hornemanni
Pine Grosbeak Pinicola enucleator

Appendix:

Alphabetical Listing of Chignik Birds by Common Name

Chignik Species Checklist

References:

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List (U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service) (online)

Aniakchak National National Monument and Preserve Species List (online)

Audubon Guide to North American Birds (online)

Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, 1960-63, David Narver, University of Washington, July 1968

Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds (online)

Siblley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America, The, written & illustrated by David Allen Sibley, 2003

A minute ago, we flipped the calendar to April and now it’s almost time to turn the page to May! All this calendar flipping is amping up my foraging enthusiasm, which is already running at a steady hum. Fortunately, there is ample foraging material in my freezer as I patiently wait for Mother Nature to provide.

If you have been following along, you know that I am reluctant to add tools to my kitchen arsenal unless I have deemed them fantastically useful. No dust collectors allowed! After last summer’s kitchen experimentations (pie crusts, pestos, and other sauces), we decided it’s time to up our game and add a food processor to the mix.

Today’s assignment was testing out the new machine before burning the boxes they came in. After a quick forage in our freezer, frozen wild blueberries were the inspiration. Cutting in butter into a scone recipe sounded like a delicious trial for the new machine.

My previous strategy was using a grater to grate frozen butter to make those little pea-sized bits for a flaky pastry. It worked like a charm, but it did take some time. And mind your knuckles and fingertips! Using a food processor to make the scone dough was a revelation. I dropped the required chunks of butter into the dry ingredients. In 4 pulses, the butter was pea-sized and incorporated into the flour. I then added the remaining ingredients – 4 more pulses and my dough was done. Wow! I’m imagining all the recipes I can more quickly and easily prepare… pie crusts for wild berries and rhubarb, pestos with foraged greens, wild greens and mushroom fillings for ravioli…oh, and pasta dough… All right, Mother Nature, our calendars will align soon enough.

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