Sitka Nature

My parents are in town and my dad and I went over to the airport to pick some strawberries. We also went down to the park this evening so he could see what spearscale looked like and to check out the cherry tree.

Weather: Very wet. The rain did actually stop briefly for a time this evening, but not for too long. Winds seemed to be light, when they were noticable.

Birds: The fall migration is getting started. There were at least 50 Black Turnstones down at the park this evening as well as one probably Rock Sandpiper and one bird that I believe was a dowitcher. The bird that I think was a dowitcher had a flight call that seemed a bit different than I remember from the Short-billed Dowitchers, so I am wondering if it could be a Long-billed Dowitcher.

There were some gulls along the beach, with quite a few of them looking like Mew Gulls.

Off-shore aways from the mouth of Indian River, there was a single Surf Scoter.

On the way back from the park this evening, we saw a juvenile Hermit Thrush hopping about catching inch worms.

Flora: Despite the abundant blooms a month or so ago, I could not find any still developing cherries on the tree.

I picked a couple of carrots today. They are doing well. The kids and Melissa both liked their taste.

My dad and I went over to the airport strawberry patch and got about a quart of strawberries. Since the strawberries I tried to transplant a few days ago do not look like they are doing so well (it didn’t help that I waited two or three days to replant them). My dad and I got some new plants and planted them when we got home. Hopefully they will do a little better.

Other Notes: I have heard that there are a number of bears around town currently. There were signs on the trails near the Raptor Center indicating that a bear had been seen in the area recently. I also heard about a couple of bears out at Starrigavan and one up along Edgecumbe drive. With the poor berry crop, I wonder if bears will wander into town more than they have the last couple of years. Hopefully, for the sake of the bears, the salmon run is not too bad. They have started to move up into Indian River and there were quite a few jumping along the shore by Arrowhead Trailer Court near the mouth of Indian River.

There was a seal that was hanging out in the water of what would be the southern large tidepool. It seemed to be staying in one spot, though it would sometimes dip its head under the surface. We saw it on our way down the beach, and also on the way back, 15 or 20 minutes later.

Clearly I have not managed to keep up with the updates over the last couple of weeks. I have been spending some time outside, mostly with work, but my attention has been elsewhere.

A couple of things I forgot to mention previously were the berries. What few salmonberries there are started get ripe two or three weeks ago. The blueberries also started getting ripe a week or two ago. It looks like it’s going to be a poor berry crop all around this year.

I spent three days in Juneau this week. On my way to the airport, I Tuesday morning, I heard what I thought was a yellowlegs calling near the airport lagoon.

In Juneau I noticed some interesting differences in flora. The thimbleberries seem to be more common there than in Sitka. Also some plants that I tend to associate with alpine or sub-alpine meadows were in the montane forest on Mt. Roberts. There also seemed to be a fair amount of Ribes lacustre around Juneau. I have only seen that noticed that once in the Sitka area, north of town on Piper Island.

Also while I was in Juneau, I saw a black bear getting into a garbage can. That seems to be more of a problem in Juneau than in Sitka.

Last Friday I had a pretty fun tour. It was my first time on the smaller 6-pack catamaran. The tours on this boat just have a captain and crew member, with a maximum of 6 passengers. This particular tour had three folks. We had good views of humpback whales, great looks at Tufted Puffins, a good minke whale sighting and a stop off at the beach near Pt. Brown. The people were interesting to talk to. One of the ladies on the trip was a plant and bird enthusiast, so she asked a lot of questions about the birds and plants we saw.

A week ago Thursday I went over to Kruzof on a trip that was primarily for looking at seaweed. A group of Phycologists from the international conference being held in Juneau came to Sitka for a field trip. There were a few spaces available on the boat, so I took advantage of the opportunity to get over there. I saw new-to-me plants, and found a bird nest. I may yet get an entry written about that trip specifically.

Weather has been varied overall. There were a few nice days, but there’s been a lot of rain. I guess that Wednesday was pretty nice, but I was in Juneau (where it was pretty nice as well).