It was a busy day and I have felt like I am fighting off a cold, so I did not spend too much time outside today.
Weather: It was light before six this morning, but I think the first time I looked out the window was a little after six. The skies were clear and there was frost on the ground. I still felt like I was fighting off a cold, so I opted to go back to sleep. When I went to class around 8am, there was not a cloud in the sky that I could see. In the distance near the horizon, I could see a marine layer of fog. Winds were calm. By 9am, there were some clouds in the sky, and they increased through lunch time when it was partly cloudy with winds out of the west. By this evening, there were only a few clouds in the sky again. Forecast for tomorrow is mostly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain. That’s similar to what the forecast has been all week, however.
Birds: It seemed rather quiet out this morning. It’s possible that I slept through most of the birds calling, but I am pretty confident that the flicker did not drum on the house. There were a couple of things I noticed in particular today. Around noon there was a large flock of gulls circling about high overhead. They dispersed after a few minutes but I think there were well over 100 of them up there. The other thing I noticed was a particularly vocal chickadee when I was walking home around 5pm. I first saw it in the pine trees near the west entrance of Rasmusson. It was giving a “chicka-chicka-dee-dee” call with only slight variations and momentary pauses. As I watched it, it flew over to the spruce trees at the bottom of Hillcrest Drive and continued calling. At one point it did stop calling long enough to bend down and pull something off the branch it was standing on (I assume an insect it ate), but then it quickly resumed calling. I could not see anything that would be making it upset, especially as it moved around and kept calling.
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned kinglets are pretty common, but they tend to spend a lot of time in the canopies of the conifers, so they can be difficult to get a good look at. I occasionally see them down lower (on a couple of occasions even on the ground) but even when that occurs and I actually have my camera, it has been difficult to get a picture.
Golden-crowned kinglets seem disinclined to spend any significant time in one spot. They flit about, constantly flying from branch to branch looking for the little insects they eat as food. I have heard that during nesting season, they aggressively defend their nest. So if you happen to find yourself getting chattered at by a little kinglet during the spring or summer, you may be closer to the nest than he prefers. That might provide an opportunity to get a photo, but so far I have never knowingly witnessed a kinglet defending territory in this way.
Earlier in the week, I noticed a small loose flock of kinglets, chickadees, and possibly a brown creeper foraging on some smaller trees not too far from our house. I was fortunate enough to get a few reasonably decent photos; better than any I had taken previously, anyway.
Still, I think I missed more than I got.
Weather: Winds were out of the north today. By the afternoon there was a fairly steady breeze. Partly cloudy skies with big cumulus clouds hanging over many of the mountains. It appeared that many of the clouds dropped precipitation over the mountains, but it stayed sunny in town.
Flora: Red alder catkins appear to be swelling and getting ready to open up. The yellow pond lilies in Swan Lake are starting to push leaves up toward the surface.
Birds: I went by Swan Lake today and saw Scaups (I think both Lesser and Greater) along with the Mallards. I think I saw a swan toward the upper end of the lake where I had noticed one (the same?) previously. While I was around the lake, I also heard a flicker calling periodically. There was a good size flock of gulls that was in the middle of the lake when I arrived, but shortly afterward they all took off and flew north.
Some of the scaups were resting on the penninsula, the first time I had seen them out of the water. It appeared that one or two of them were males that were undergoing a molt. This seems like an odd time of year for that, it’s possible they were first year males just now changing to breeding plumage.
Other Notes: This evening the kids helped me plant some spinach and carrots. I covered up the carrots with some plastic to protect them from frost and put the spinach in pots. Although the variety I planted is supposed to be resistant to bolting, the long Alaskan summer days may overcome that resistance. I am thinking it might work to cover the plants up in the evening and uncover them in the morning as the days get longer to keep them from going to seed (of course that requires consistent effort to remember).
Winter Wren Singing (mp3)
The day dawned clear and cool. There was frost on the ground and very little breeze; what there was came out of the North and was enough to cause my exhaled breath to drift, but even the lightest branches were not moving discernably.
The Northern Flicker was back this morning before 6am. I initially heard it calling in the distance, but it did not seem to be getting closer. However, after a while, I heard it close to the house. It engaged in some drumming on the house before leaving for awhile. Around 6:30am, it came back to do some more drumming. There was also a second flicker that I could hear calling in the distance. It seemed almost as if they were doing a little bit of competititve calling, but it was difficult to say for sure. At this time, I decided to get up and see if I could see it or maybe get a recording.
By the time I got outside (the kids needed a little wrangling), the flickers had gone away again. However, I did hear a winter wren singing from the backyard, so I decided to see about recording it. The wren turned out to be down at the edge of the woods behind the maintenance building and I recorded it singing for a few minutes. I also heard a Stellar’s Jay, Crows, and Ravens. After recording the wren, I went over by the spruce tree and heard a Song Sparrow down on Lincoln Street and Gulls from down by the park.
While I was outside, I also heard some chirping from birds flying overhead. They were canopy feeders and I have heard them before, but I do not know what they are. I think they might be Pine Siskins or maybe Crossbills. I have not been able to get a good look at them to confirm, however.