Varied Thrush, Cope Park, Juneau, Alaska

This was our second visit to Juneau so we thought we could get a Bus to the Mendenhall Glacier, hoping for Black Bear and Varied Thrush. The glacier was about an hour away and we had a 12 hour dock so time was not an issue. We asked at all the tour booths on the dockside about a bus. Last week they were $45 and you could stay all day. This week the tours had had their licences cut short and the maximum time that could be spent there was 90 minutes and the cost today was $75 ! 90 minutes certainly not long enough for us and the price.....flipping heck !  So we knew we could get a public bus for $2, yes that's right, $2. So we headed to the bus station and sat there. Looked at the timetable and yes, could be done in the time. But we sat and sat, then realised it was a Sunday.....no buses ! 

All was not lost as Simon had a back up plan with a local park that looked promising, so we headed there. Never walked up such steep streets, my handbrake would never hold if we lived here ! Steep was an understatement, then we started on steps ! Lots of birds along the way and we were soon into Cope Park. We headed for a grassy area at the side of steep woodland where there was a decent seating area so we could sit and eat our second breakfasts !  Checked with the local park keeper if we should be worried about bears, no there were none about but he told us exactly what to do just incase. 

Lots of American Robins, dozens of then infact, sunbathing and feeding. A woodpecker, lots of warblers, juncos, tree creepers, thrushes and then we heard them calling, VARIED THRUSHES. So we sat and watched, sat and watched and then a bird walked out that was not an American Robin.......BINGO !!  A varied thrush. It was everything and more we had hoped for, it was beautiful. We could hear them calling all around and we had many sightings. But it was a busy car park and dog walkers were arriving in the droves. But we had seen not one, but around 4 different birds. They were calling all round and without the Sunday dog walkers, we were sure we would have seen them more. Then another dog walker arrived and parked in the exact spot the birds had been coming out, keeping her engine running and blaring out Tammy Winnette at full blast, sitting in her car, drinking coffee, oblivious to the disturbance she was causing. At that exact moment, a male varied thrush walked out from behind her vehicle, a male, oh my goodness, simply stunning. Excellent views through the bins and then she opened her door, music at full blast and the thrush flew. It didn't come back out and by this time it was late morning and all had gone quiet. But we were more than happy with our views. A bird that had been on Simon's wish list for years. 

We celebrated that night by eating posh, it was surf and turf, and we had a bottle of Malbec, the cheapest being $50. One of those days of our life that we will never forget xx

And this is the car park male. We had moved seats so we could see into the woodland, good job we did else we would not have seen this male. It had to be one of the best looking birds we have ever seen !