Al writes to tell me that Barn Swallows are bothering his bluebird nest boxes. They’re nesting in them, he says. How is he handling this? He’s shooting them. No, no, no, no. Can’t shoot songbirds. There’s a federal law against that. Plus, his ‘problem’ birds can’t be Barn Swallows. That species doesn’t nest in boxes. His birds have to be Tree Swallows, the bluebird’s friend. Tree Swallows use nest boxes. This is the theory: If you place two nest boxes close to each other, say 15 feet apart, swallows will occupy one and then defend that territory from use by another pair of Tree Swallows. This leaves the second box for bluebirds (or House Wrens or Black-capped Chickadees). The swallows don’t care if bluebirds are close neighbors. They don’t compete for food. Both eat insects, but swallows capture bugs on the wing while bluebirds pick them from the ground. Problem birds? How do you handle it?

Kenai Peninsula, Alaska — Day Five

Doughnuts are fueling this trip. This day has been highlighted by three doughnuts and a pair of nesting dark-phase Parasitic Jaegers. We first saw one of the jaegers four days ago, over the tidal mud near the mouth of the Kenai River. The Kenai city docking site was our observation point. It is one of the stops on the Kenai Peninsula Wildlife Viewing Trail, the source of our various birding destinations on this trip. It’s salmon season here. Commercial fishermen come into the river near the docks to unload their fish at the processing plants along the river bank. Inside the plants, long tables are lined with men and women in yellow rubber bib overalls. They’re fileting salmon, thousands and thousands of fish. The discarded parts are ground into a slurry and discharged into the river. Gulls come to feed at this banquet. Perhaps 30,000 gulls — Herring, Glaucous-winged, and Mew — nest on a vast sedge meadow just across the river. The river front is jaeger heaven. They come to worry the gulls, chasing them in dog-fight pursuit, hoping a gull carrying food to chicks will drop the food during the chase. The gull’s loss is the jaeger’s gain. We watched that first jaeger, almost black against the gray-green river, as it swept among the white gulls looking for a victim. We were about 500 yards away. Eventually, we moved to another dock to be closer to the action. The jaeger, of course, immediately flew downstream to work in front of our previous viewing site. Then, we lost the bird. We’ve been checking that stretch of river twice a day, hoping to see that dark dart again. Today, we found the jaegers’ nest site. We stopped along a nearby highway to scan a mudflat for whatever. One jaeger was found standing on the mud. The second appeared minutes later, rising off what we believe is their nest. The birds are a rich chocolate brown with tan accents. They are almost exactly the same color as the dried silt on which they are nesting. If they hadn’t moved we wouldn’t have seen them. We watched the pair eventually fly off into the ever-present gull flock. We’re going back later this afternoon to see if they have returned to the nest site. It is less than 100 yards from the road, allowing good looks with binoculars. I never eat doughnuts, by the way, but this place, with its never-ending daylight and the wealth of birds, keeps me hungry.

Kenai peninsula, Alaska, morning, day two.

Gulls dominate this area. The mud flats at the mouth of the Kenai River are perfect for gulls. In an adjoining marsh, hundreds of Herring and Mew gulls nest. It doesn’t hurt that this is salmon season, and hundreds of fishermen are bringing tons and tons of salmon ashore for processing. We’ll be at one of the processing plants this evening, when the boats have returned and the fish are being cleaned.
The heads and guts are ground up and piped into the harbor. This creates gull heaven. We expect to see thousands of birds. The photo is an event we encountered along one of the beach access roads. A Bonaparte’s Gull, injured before we arrived, was being attacked by a Herring Gull. The latter pulled feathers from the injured but alive bird. The Herring Gull gave every indication of viewing the injured bird as a meal. Our presence eventually spooked the Herring Gull, and it flew away. The Bonaparte’s Gull died. Mew Gulls came to investigate the dead bird, but showed only passing interest.