Crows

Today was a day to get ready for the resumption of classes tomorrow (I’m not sure how regularly I will be able to post when classes are going, but I’ll try for at least once a day). This afternoon I needed to go to my office, so I decided to take a little bit of a break from grading papers and combine the trip to the office with a short walk down to the beach. The tide was going out and it looked like the herring fleet was getting ready to fish out in Middle Channel. They were too far away from shore to be able to see what was going on clearly, but the spotting planes were up in the air and the seiners were moving around to find a good place to set their nets.

The weather continued to be partly to mostly cloudy. The sun shown through on occasion, but it without its full intensity it was easy to get chilled in the light breeze.

On my way home I went up to the neighbor’s yard to look at the boats again and happened to see a Brown Creeper in one of the spruce trees on the hill going down to Lincoln Street. I heard kinglets as well and kept my eyes open for an opportunity to try getting a photograph. While I was down there, I saw and heard at least a couple of chickadees as well as a small flock of Juncos. I thought I might have seen a Fox Sparrow in the salmonberry thicket, but on further inspection, I concluded it was probably a song sparrow (though it was difficult to tell because it stayed in the dense salmonberries canes).

When I walked back up the hill I heard some crows cawing repeatedly and was able to spot a pair of them up in a tree behind our house. As I looked, I realized there were actually three pairs of crows in the tree. I am not sure whether the apparent pairings were meaningful or coincidental and as I watched a bird from the top pair flew down and started to interact with one of the other pairs.

Singing Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

The Dark-eyed Juncos that have been spending the winter in our neighborhood seem to have started their dispersal. Over the last couple of winters I have observed fairly large flocks of juncos spending time in the neighborhood. They show up in the fall and make the rounds of the neighborhood. I am uncertain how far they range, but they do seem to mostly stick together in flocks. Throughout the fall and winter, there seems to be little aggression between the birds, but as the days get longer in late winter, I have noticed them getting more aggressive with each other (it’s probably just the males, though I did not notice specifically). By March they are starting to practice their trilling song. I say practice because the song seems to be shorter than what I hear later in the spring when they are nesting. As spring gets going, they disperse back to their preferred nesting areas. I typically observe pairs of them around clearings (muskegs and beach meadows) at low and mid-elevations (I cannot recall whether I have seen them at higher elevations or not). It may be that they also nest in forested and/or brushy areas, but it is more difficult to observe them in such situations. I am uncertain whether the birds that winter in our neighborhood stay in the general area or go further north with the birds nesting in this area wintering further south.

Weather: Contrary to the forecast, skies were clear this morning. As the morning went on, the clouds started moving in from the South and Southeast. Temperatures were in the lower mid-30s when I went out, but there was little bit of evidence that there had been a light frost. There was a light breeze out of the south when I sat for a while at the spruce tree.
As of early afternoon it is mostly cloudy with temperatures in the upper 40s.

Birds: The flickers were not active around the house this morning, though I did hear them calling in the distance a few times.

The juncos seem to be dispersing, or maybe they just were elsewhere in their territory this morning. I did see a small group of them down along Lincoln Street by the highbush cranberry.

There were a few Goldeneyes and Buffleheads by Sage Beach. The tide was in.

There was a song sparrow singing on the same perch as I observed previously along Lincoln Street.

With the high tide, Indian River estuary was flooded, making the ducks a little less concentrated (and more difficult to see). I did see quite a few mallards.

There was a kingfisher flying around the estuary making rattling calls that lasted a long time. After the first one went on for so long, I counted the second one to about 8 seconds (while flying). It does not sound like the bird takes a breath, but it’s hard to imagine that it could fly for that long and not breathe in at somepoint.

While I sat and enjoyed the warm sun at the point near the river mouth, I observed a single male Common Goldeneye feeding. I also saw a Song Sparrow feeding on the beach. It was within about 10 feet of me feeding in the gravel and seaweed that had washed ashore.

There were hundreds of gulls in the area near the mouth of Indian River but not in the estuary. They did not seem to be trying to feed or anything. Perhaps this area provides a relatively calm location for them to rest and when the tide is right and they are hungry, they fly to where the herring are spawning (north of town). That would explain the large numbers of gulls I have seen flying that direction from the house (though I have not seen them flying back in significant numbers, that could be due to the timing of tides and darkness).

I did not see it, but Melissa noticed an eagle flying overhead with a branch.

Flora: There were leaves coming out on an elderberry along Lincoln Street. The dune grass near the point was also sended up new growth. Crocuses in the old garden have grown out a lot in the last few days, though none are blooming yet.

Other Observations: The deer were back around noon today. They fed for a little bit in the old garden before wandering down toward Kelly Street. I am now thinking that both deer are probably males (I think they are the same ones that have been around previously), although I have not noticed conclusive evidence one way or the other yet.

Weather: When I got up this morning around 6:15 (more on that later) it appeared to be partly cloudy. The forecast had been for cloudy with rain, but the rain held off. Temperatures were in the low 30s this morning, with highs in the upper 50s. There was not much wind. Although it was overcast for most of the day, there was a nice sunset this evening between 6:30 and 7pm.

Birds: Northern Flickers were active throughout the morning. I did not hear them as frequently in the afternoon,
but I did hear at least one calling on a few occasions. Highlights included a 6:10 am wake up, and three flickers together in the trees outside the house.

At various times throughout the day, I noticed flocks of gulls flying northwest (along the shore). I am not sure where they were going.

I did not spend too much time outside today, but I did see an eagle collect a branch from the neighbor’s cottonwood tree.

At sunset, Connor and I went for a short walk. We heard a winter wren singing behind our house. I am uncertain whether it was in the woods behind our house toward family housing or across the road by Westwood Trail. I there was a Song Sparrow singing down by the harbor. Robins and starlings could be heard settling down in the spruce tree in front of Allen Auditorium. Connor spotted two robins getting a ‘bedtime snack’ by NPH.

Crows and ravens were audible throughout the day, though I did not investigate further to see what they were doing.

I heard what sounded like kinglets while I spent a few minutes by the spruce tree, though I was unable to observe them visually.

The juncos were making some trilling songs this morning.

Flora: The moss I looked at today still looks pretty dry. If it does not rain in the next day or so, I may try adding a little water to some moss. We got some rain the night before last, but I am uncertain how much. I would like to see if some of the moss has been ‘killed’ by the cold weather or if it is still just not wet enough to look ‘normal’ (as opposed to shriveled up and dry).

I noticed a clubmoss growing by the spruce tree yesterday. I had not noticed that before.

Today the sapsucker holes were pretty much filled in with sap. I imagine temperature has something to do with how fast the sap can plug a hole, but it has taken about a week in this case. I will continue to watch to see how long it takes the sap to turn white.

Rhubarb is starting to come up in the old garden. It’s been up for awhile in the back yard (some even started up before the last cold snap).

Other Observations: As Connor and I started on our walk there was a deer near the maitenance sheds along the road behind Rasmusson Student Center. Some students noticed it and watched it for a minute. When Connor and I went to take a closer look it continued down the road, apparently uninterested in being observed. It had a strange gait that was faster than a walk, but not a run. I say strange because of the way the deer looked as it was doing it. It appeared almost like it was waddling (or doing the four-legged version of it). I am not sure if this is typical or not, as usually I either see deer walking or running/bounding.

The whole family went down and gathered some seaweed today for the raspberries and rhubarb. The tides are going to be getting higher over the next few days, so I figured it was a good time to collect what got pushed up during the last hightides before it has a chance to get washed away and/or replaced by newly washed ashore seaweed. What we collected from Sage beach was actually mostly eel grass. It was fairly dry and consequently did not weigh very much. That was a distinct advantage as far as I was concerned, as it allowed me to carry four buckets at a time back up to the house (and I only took four loads).