Weather: This morning there was a low overcast/fog but it started breaking up around 11am with clearing skies throughout the afternoon. There was a light breeze, though I did not notice the direction.

Birds: I saw some juvenile European Starlings on the campus lawn. I think they are some that were raised in nests on campus. I am not sure how long it takes starlings to fledge, but I remember seeing nest building activities taking place in March.

Though they are not there all day, I did observe a fair number of ravens still on the campus lawn.

This evening the Swainson’s Thrushes were actively singing around the neighborhood.

Other Notes: The white butterflies are getting to be more abundant.

Melissa and Connor left on the late morning flight south, so Rowan and I had much of the day to ourselves. On the way home from the airport we stopped at Alice Island and went for a bit of a walk. Rowan had a lot of fun picking the abundant dandelions growing there.

Weather: It started out partly cloudy and remained that way through early afternoon. By mid afternoon the clouds started stacking up on the mountains and we experienced some light rain in town.

Birds: The Wilson’s Warblers and Yellow Warblers seem to have moved on, for the most part. I have not seen them as much around the house nor did there seem to be many on Alice Island, though we did not walk all the way around.

There were two Fox Sparrows and one Orange-crowned Warbler that I did see on Alice Island. There was also a fair number of gulls, most of the juveniles, along the west shoreline of the island. It was not clear to me what drew them there.

Weather: It was partly cloudy throughout the day with little wind.

Birds:
There was a Dark-eyed Junco calling today around the house, I later saw him foraging. It is the first one I have seen around the neighborhood since the flock that wintered here moved on.

I heard the first Swainson’s Thrush I’ve heard singing this year in the evening along Lincoln Street.

Flora: I saw a number of different flowers that have probably been blooming for at least a couple of days, if not longer.

The purple violets are blooming in the neighbors yard. They are either early violets or Alaska violets, but I am not sure which.

Huckleberry bushes are now flowering as are the villous cinquefoil along Sage Beach.

Last week I wrote a post on snow with a photo showing where an avalanche had cut loose. Since that time a second avalanche has also released on the same hillside (see above). I suspect these did not make it all the way down to Medvejie Lake, but it would be interesting to see.

Last week there was a Sheldon Jackson group that planned to hike across the island on an expedition course. I found out they had to turn back due to avalanche danger around Camp Lake. Conditions were probably similar there to what lead to the release of the avalanches on Cross Mountain, so I imagine it was a little scary.

The snow is definitely melting fast off the mountains now. Mt. Edgecumbe has significant bare patches on it. It looks like the snow is melting pretty good on Mt. Verstovia and Gavan Hill, but I have not had a chance to get up them so far.