Connor and I were wandering around the Sheldon Jackson quad yesterday morning when he brought me a spruce cone he had found. I told him what it was and then (for reasons I do not recall) decided to twist it apart. It twisted apart very easily and I noticed that inside was a small insect larvae. It seemed to be dead (it did not move when I touched it) and I am guessing that it was the reason the cone twisted apart so easily (others I picked up afterwards did not). It would be interesting to find out what kind of insect uses spruce cones for the larval stage.

It is partly cloudy and cool this morning. It looks like there may have been some fresh snow above 3000 feet in the last couple of days, but it was hard to say for sure as the peaks were still partially covered by clouds. The sky looks overcast out over the ocean, and I expect that those clouds will move in as the day goes on.

The american dippers (Cinclus mexicanus) that frequent Indian River near its mouth were singing today as I made my way through the forest towards the river bank. I later saw two of them wading in different parts of the river. I imagine that they were feeding. I hoped to see a kingfisher as I had a couple of days ago. When I first reached the estuary, I did not see the kingfisher. However, as I made my way out towards the point, I heard its call on the other side of the river mouth and looked through the trees in time to see the flash a kingfisher flying up to along the far shore. There was a man walking along that shore and I suspect that he had inadvertantly disturbed the kingfisher. I continued to the beach at the point and tried to see where the kingfisher was perched, but I was unable to find it. As I sat watching, the movement of the kingfisher taking flight caught my eye. It flew across the river mouth towards a tree that was not too far from where I was sitting. Suddenly, as it neared the tree, it made a u-turn and headed back out towards the water (perhaps it saw me and was not comfortable). I watched as it did a mid-air hover over the water and then lost sight of it as it flew across the bay.

The air this morning seemed quite still. There were low clouds and a fine mist. This afternoon saw partial clearing with a breeze blowing onshore. There were still low clouds hanging around the mountains as well as off-shore. It felt fairly cool with the breeze.