Potters Marsh

Just south of Anchorage on the Seward Highway you will find Potters Marsh, a sanctuary for many critters, especially birds. On the north end of the marsh you can take an easy stroll along the boardwalk. There are a few turnouts along the highway as you head south, and you may see more birds there than at the boardwalk.

Off the main parking lot you'll find a boardwalk that extends around a small amount of the periphery of Potters Marsh. In late May there were very few birds here. But the view is quite scenic. You can just barely pick out a pair of greater scaup swimming in the marsh.

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Almost no birds, except for a few tree swallows. Remarkably these birds allowed me to approach so close that my camera couldn't focus anymore. I actually had to back up to get this shot.

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Almost no birds, except for a few tree swallows. Remarkably these birds allowed me to approach so close that my camera couldn't focus anymore. I actually had to back up to get this shot.\n\nThe tree swallows were sitting on the boardwalk fence and signage, and it was quite windy out.

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Here a tree swallow totally ignores me and starts to preen in the wind.

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A-ha! It's mating season. The tree swallows didn't care that I approached so closely because they were preoccupied with other thoughts.

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We saw more birds away from the boardwalk along the highway towards Seward. There were a few turnouts, and some birds were quite close to where you could get out of the car. Here a pair of new gulls (notice their red eyes and the lack of a red marking on their lower bill?) nest in a tuft of marsh grass.

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Arctic terns are the most remarkable bird I have seen. They migrate from the arctic to the antarctic and back every year. In search of a literal never-ending summer, these birds will travel over 20,000 miles on their round trips each year. I was attacked by a pair of these terns on Deception Island in the Antarctic.

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Arctic terns are the most remarkable bird I have seen. They migrate from the arctic to the antarctic and back every year. In search of a literal never-ending summer, these birds will travel over 20,000 miles on their round trips each year. I was attacked by a pair of these terns on Deception Island in the Antarctic.

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A male greater scaup floats in Potters Marsh right by the turnout on the southern end. He looks happy to see us.

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A female greater scaup accompanies the male seen in the previous picture.

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