The number of ravens hanging out around campus has seemed unusually high to me this year. Each day there are 10-20 of them finding food to eat in the campus lawn. In past years I only remember regularly seeing 4 ravens through the winter and spring around campus. There are three possibilities I have thought of for the difference this year. It could be an artifact of my own incomplete observations and/or poor memory, it could be a bumper crop of whatever it is the ravens are finding to eat, or it could be due to the cold spring. I regularly see ravens up in the alpine when I am hiking, but this year there is still a lot of snow in the mountains. Perhaps they hanging out in town waiting for the snow to melt at higher elevations.

I was able to get out on a hike in Indian River Valley today. I explored a little bit in some of the off-trail muskegs before walking up to the first bridge and then back home.

Weather: The day started out overcast without rain, but by late morning a light rain had started. The rain continued through the afternoon until the evening when the clouds broke up and the sun shone through for an hour or so before sunset. There was a low layer of clouds that obscured the mountains for much of the day, though periodically it would break up a little bit.

Birds: I heard a Golden-crowned Sparrow singing outside the house this morning.

I was able to observe quite a few birds on my hike. Of particular note was a flycatcher I saw along Indian River. I think it was a Pacific Slope Flycatcher. I also saw three Varied Thrush, with two of them (a male and a female) seeming pretty attached to a particular location. It made me wonder if they had a nest in the immediate vicinity.

Flora: There was definitely a difference in the extent of spring growth as I went up the valley. It seemed like the alders were at least a few days behind the ones near the house. I did see a few plants blooming, including blueberries, skunk cabbage, fern-leaf goldthread, stream violets, a single crowberry, a couple of three-leaf goldthreads, and a sedge. I think in the next couple of weeks there will be quite a few more plants blooming as I did notice flower buds on a number of plants.

There were a few bog cranberries that survived the winter. They are still tart, but not quite so much as in the fall.

Other Notes: I had heard from someone the other day that some steelhead had made it into the flume. On my way to Indian River I went by the flume and saw one in there.

Weather: Weather the last couple of days has been mostly cloudy with some rain. Wednesday it rained for much of the day and Thursday the rain started late morning but let up by evening.

Birds: The ravens continue to regularly feed on the campus lawn. The Savannah Sparrows are still quite abundant. I hear Orange-crowned and Townsend’s Warblers singing frequently. The Winter Wrens are still actively singing as well. Thursday morning down at the park a small flock of six Brants flew past.

Other Notes: There was a male deer in our back yard Thursday morning (see photo above).

I took Rowan and Connor to Totem Park this morning because Connor’s preschool was taking a trip to the park. Connor, Rowan, and I along with two of Connor’s friends from preschool formed a small group to wander the beach. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun turning over rocks and finding crabs. We also found some starfish and even a blenny.

Note the location where an avalanche started just below and left of the center of the photo.

It has been such a cold spring, with the snow level regularly below 1000ft even into May, I had forgotten that winter did not start out this way. Even into late December, the snow level was regularly well above 3500 feet (as amid-December photo of Mt. Edgecumbe attests). A conversation with an enthusiastic snow boarder yesterday reminded me of this fact.

He related travelling to Juneau to ski over Christmas break and being forced to spend the time watching movies in the hotel room, since there was not enough snow on the mountain. The Sheldon Jackson College winter sports classes were postponed from January until Spring Break due to lack of snow in Juneau as well. It was not any better here until snow started accumulating in January.

There were a few warm days in February, but then in March we were hit with record setting cold for a couple of weeks. Since that time it seems that spring has been coming three weeks delayed from last year.