Another day spent mostly inside working to get caught up for the end of the semester. I did make it out on a walk to the park around noon time.

Weather: Early this morning it was raining, but by mid-morning the rain had stopped. By the time I started out on my walk a little before noon, the gravel had already started to dry. At the park, there was a breeze out of the southeast. Skies remained overcast through the afternoon and evening, though there was a brief break in the clouds where the sun was able to shine through in the late afternoon.

Birds: The tide was in while I was down at the park. I saw cormorants, Buffleheads, and gulls offshore and a number of gulls flying this way and that. I did not see any shorebirds.

There were gulls attracted to sealion activity (see below).

I saw a Bald Eagle chasing a gull. At first they were so far off, I thought it was a couple of gulls (one smaller and the other larger), but later I realized it was an eagle swooping down at the gull. I first noticed them out toward Jamestown Bay and they flew north over Crescent Bay. I saw a second eagle head toward them from the park (undoubtedly to steal the prize if a catch was made), but the gull managed to avoid capture.

On my way back home, I walked along Lincoln Street. I heard a high pitched call that I did not recognize in the trees between Lincoln Street and Sage Beach. I had a difficult time locating the call, but I did see a robin perched in a tree sitting very still. I finally realized it was the robin making the call. It seemed to be sitting more stiff/still than usual, but I could not figure out why. After watching it for a few moments, I crossed the street to take a shortcut home. It flew off shortly after I crossed the street (perhaps it had been concerned about me?).

I spent a few minutes sitting by the spruce tree. A winter wren was singing at the edge of the forest to the Southeast of where I sat. It sang its song quite a few times with only brief breaks before stopping. A little while after it stopped, I saw it flitting about in the brush across the little clearing from me. It did that for a little bit before finding another perch to sing from. I noticed that it has at least two volumes, full and quieter. The song seems the similar (perhaps the same), but the volume difference can be very distinct. After it got done singing the second batch of songs, it started flitting about in the bushes again where it disappeared from my sight. A short time after that, I spotted the neighbor’s black cat coming up the trail. It left the trail and passed out of my sight toward where I had seen the Winter Wren go. The wren was still there, and a few moments after I lost sight of the cat, I saw the bird come back into view chittering at the cat. It did not seem overly concerned, as it made the chittering calls for a short time before it started singing again (though now mostly at a quieter volume).

Flora: Many plants are coming up, but still not too many flowers are out. There are fern fiddleheads, beach greens, giant vetch, silverweed, and some other plants I did not recognize at this stage of growth.

The beach greens (pictured above) were growing out of long roots/runners that had been exposed by the winter’s high tides. At least that is what I think they were. Whatever they were, they were still well anchored in the rocks.

The sap on the spruce tree filling the holes from the sapsuckers is starting to get cloudy.

Other Notes: There were multiple sealions off the west beach of the park while I was there. It was difficult to tell how many, but it was at least two and perhaps as many as four. They seemed to be rolling about on the surface. It was not clear to me whether they were eating, playing, or doing something else. A couple of gulls did fly over to check it out, however. At least once I saw a gull dive in like it saw something to eat.

I saw a dead fish on the shore. It looked kind of like the shiner perch that are in the harbor, but I’m not sure that’s what it was.

Not much time to get out this weekend since I have a project I need to get done, but I did make time for a short walk to Totem Park.

Weather: Light to moderate rainfall was the order of the day. On my walk this afternoon there was a steady breeze out of the Southeast.

Birds:
I heard then saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet near the trail as it approached the battle site. I was not able to get a photo of it, but I did notice that it seemed to be loosely associating itself with a small mixed flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Chestnut-backed Chickadee or two.

I saw a small flock of shorebirds flying near the water (while I was near the forest edge) that looked about the size of dowitchers, but by the time I made it back around the shore to where I had seen them land, they were no longer there. I did see two Dunlin that seemed less active than typical. They probably just recently landed after a long flight.

There was a Black-legged Kittiwake in with a small flock of gulls on the southwest beach. In the water not far from the gulls was a Red-breasted Merganser female. I did not see a male bird.

There were a number of Buffleheads scattered around near the shoreline.

I saw Common Mergansers Barrow’s Goldeneye near the river mouth.

There were several crows on the west beach on my way out. On my way back I saw them again, but they were in closer to Sage Beach. I observed a couple of them picking up shells and dropping them on the rocks to break them open.

On my way back, I saw a raven being accosted by three crows. The raven was perched on top of the Armstrong Building (on SJC campus). The crows were diving at it. Finally the raven took off and flew over to the library. The crows chased it across the campus, diving at it along the way. Finally, after it landed on the library, the crows flew back across campus and left the raven alone.

Other Notes: When I got to the estuary, I saw a couple of students in one of my classes fishing for steelhead. One of them told me he thought a few of the steelhead had started up river, but most of them still seemed to be in the same hole as they were yesterday.

When I was on the beach getting close to Sage Beach, I saw a sealion not too far out from Crescent Harbor. It was tossing a hunk of meat back and forth. Its actions attracted some gulls over to scavenge pieces.

Another full day with little time to get out for a walk. I did manage to get down to the park for a quick walk through this afternoon. This evening Connor, Rowan, and I went out with some friends to spend the evening on their boat anchored up in Leesoffskaia Bay.

Weather: It was partly cloudy overnight and there was frost on the ground in the morning. Winds were calm, but by late afternoon there was breeze blowing out of the west under overcast skies.

Birds: I did not see any shorebirds on my walk at the park this afternoon. There was a Pelagic Cormorant that flew off from near the park shore.

In Aleutkina and Leesoffskaia Bay, there were a number of Buffleheads and Common Mergansers.

Flora: I noticed some plants growing at the edge of the forest that I did not recognize right off. I think they might be Fringecup, but I’ll have to wait until later in the year to know for sure.

Other Fauna: A couple of students were fishing for Steelhead in Indian River. One of them thought there probably 15-20 fish in the hole. I was able to see a few of them, but without polarized sunglasses, it was difficult to see through the glare.

There were two or three seals hanging out in Leesoffskaia Bay while we were anchored up. There were also many jellyfish. Small fish were jumping all over the bay, I was thinking they might be salmon fry coming out of the nearby streams. I have heard that jellyfish can move into bays when the salmon are outmigrating, so I wonder if that is why they were there.

Weather: It was partly cloudy in the morning, becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Winds were calm in the morning.

Birds: While walking along the beach at Totem Park, I noticed a cormorant looking bird with white on its body. I was later able to determine that it was a Pelagic Cormorant. In breeding plumage they have a white patch on their bodies. This was the first time I had observed one in breeding plumage.

There were two pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. One female let me get fairly close while she was preening before swimming out to join the other three.

I noticed a large brown shorebird flying by that seemed to have a long bill. I think it was probably a Marbled Godwit. It appeared to land down on the beach near the park entrance, but by the time I got there I was not able to locate it.

There was a raven making a lot of interesting vocalizations in a branch overlooking the water. Some of the noises sounded like choking. It was not at all clear to me why it was doing that. I neglected to bring my recording equipment, so I was unable to get a recording of the sounds.

While walking back through the forest, I heard many singing Winter Wrens. They seemed to be calling out back and forth. They were probably establishing territorial boundaries, I suppose.

I was trying to find a bird I heard in the trees near the Maitenance building on campus when I heard geese overhead. I went back out to the road to see if I could locate them. When I finally found them in the sky, I saw what I think is the largest flocks of migrating geese that I have ever seen flying north.

After seeing no flocks of shorebirds on my quick walk in the morning, I went for a second walk in the afternoon around low tide. Near the point off the river mouth I located a mixed flock of mostly Black Turnstones with a few Rock Sandpipers mixed in. I also saw at least one Black-legged Kitiwake in among the gulls at the river mouth.

Flora: Stream Violet leaves are out, but I did not see any evidence of coming flowers.

There was some pink showing in some of the flower buds near the estuary at Totem Park, but they were not open yet. I heard from someone else that there was one salmonberry flower open along the road at Herring Cove.

Twisted stalk shoots are coming up. I first noticed some a day or two ago, but there are more now.

Other Notes: There was a seal that popped its head up just off shore of the west park beach.