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Photo by Eric Engman

The winter-like conditions persisting in Fairbanks appear to have stalled bird migration by a few days, at least.

Waterfowl are still dominating the scene here in town, particularly at Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, much to the delight of hundreds of fifth-graders who visited Creamer’s Field for the annual fifth-grade bird watch last week. Trumpeter swans are still being seen on a regular basis, as are greater white-fronted and Canada geese, with more arriving every day on open fields in search of food. The lone snow goose that showed up last week and a few cackling geese (the smaller bodied forms of Canada geese) are still present at Creamer’s Field, also.

Herring gulls have been roosting in great numbers at Creamer’s Field as well — 800 to 1,000 gulls were reported Friday night. In addition to the herring gulls, a few mew, glaucous and glaucous-winged gulls were in the mix. If you happen to be at Creamer’s Field at dawn, it’s quite spectacular to just close your eyes and listen to the gulls — it’s as if you’re at the ocean or a seaside pier.

Other waterfowl being seen in the Fairbanks area: mallards, Barrow’s and common goldeneye, common mergansers, American widgeon, northern pintails, northern shovelers, bufflehead, scaup species and canvasbacks.

If you happened to be at Creamer’s Field over the weekend, you may have spotted two different-looking geese. They had almost completely white heads with pink bills, large grayish-brown bodies mottled with white and bright orange feet. At first, it was thought that these birds might be variants of the blue phase of snow geese; however, after looking at photos taken of these birds, many think these were hybrid birds — probably a cross between snow and greater white-fronted geese. According to the Birds of North America (a resource of Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the American Ornithologists’ Union), snow geese have been known to hybridize with Ross’s, Canada and greater white-fronted geese. Their presence in Fairbanks was a hot topic for birders.

A few sandhill cranes were seen last Thursday at the Chena River near the Fairbanks International Airport and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. No other crane sightings have been reported as of Tuesday. An osprey was reported on Monday near the southeast corner of the airport.

Songbird migrants into the area include slate-colored junco, American tree sparrow and a few American robins.

Here’s a rundown of what was seen at local birding hot spots over the past week:

Cushman Ponds/Tanana Lakes: While there is not a lot of open water, some birds spotted in the area over the weekend include flocks of gulls (probably herring) flying over the ponds and also above the landfill, a pair of bald eagles near their nest along the Tanana River, lots of redpolls and Canada geese. In addition to the resident species of black-capped chickadee and downy woodpecker, a slate-colored junco was heard singing and one lone American tree sparrow was seen.

Fairbanks International Airport ponds: Again, not a lot of open water here, but the open water in the ditches yielded a mallard pair.

Smith Lake: The lake off Sheep Creek Road is still completely frozen over; no birds were seen here over the weekend.

Down the Richardson Highway: Trips to Delta this weekend produced many of the normal suspects, as well as a few migrants. A sharp-tailed and spruce grouse were seen in the area, as was a northern harrier, northern hawk owl and a few rough-legged and red-tailed (Harlan’s) hawks. Clearwater Lake and environs had tundra and trumpeter swans, common goldeneye, bufflehead, northern shoveler, northern pintail, mallard and common merganser. Both greater white-fronted and Canada geese were present, as were slate-colored Juncos and an American tree sparrow. A great gray owl was spotted at Mile 285 on Saturday.

Please contribute to these reports by calling in your bird sightings to the Alaska Bird Observatory (451-7159) or the Arctic Audubon Society Birding hotline (451-9213).