Weather: After yesterday’s brief reprieve, rainy weather returned. Winds were mostly calm around campus and on the water in Crescent Bay.

Birds: I was able to get out on the water a couple of times to get a closer look at the storm-petrels. This morning around 8am, the birds seemed to all be out in Crescent Bay. Around noon, they were scattered from the Sealing Cove cleaning station to the middle of Crescent Bay. There were at least a couple of dozen, with all the ones I saw Fork-tailed Storm-petrels. Kitty LaBounty told me that she thought she saw a Leach’s Storm-petrel earlier in the day.

On the second trip out there was a Sharp-shinned Hawk on Alice Island. First it chased Kingfisher, then we saw it go after a storm-petrel. It was not successful in either case, but it did fly by the boat pretty close. Unfortunately the light was not so great for photographing it, but I did get a few pictures.

There was a Great Blue Heron on the beach near the entrance to Sealing Cove. Later in the day I saw on one the Crescent Harbor Breakwater.

I saw at least one Golden-crowned Sparrow in the neighborhood today. There seem to be more Golden-crowneds around this year than there have been in the last couple of years.

I heard about a number of interesting birds being seen over the weekend, so I took advantage of the dry weather to go see if I could find any of them.

Weather: After the stormy weather for the last couple of days this mostly cloudy day was a welcome respite.

Birds: I went through Totem Park and heard many birds up in the trees. I was able to see a Hairy Woodpecker. On my way back, I saw several Chestnut-backed Chickadees as well as some warblers.

There was a Mourning Dove feeding in the grasses along the bike bath near Eagle Way. It did not seem too concerned with passing traffic. I never would have seen it if it had not been for a bunch of Savannah Sparrows that flew up as I road by. I stopped to look at them and noticed the dove feeding pretty near me.

After watching the dove, I went over to check out the birds in the bay. I was able to see some Surf Scoters and Harlequin Ducks in among all of the gulls. I also spotted a Marbled Godwit in among the gulls on shore. I think a godwit is pretty unusual for this time of year.

I intended to go across the bridge to the ramp, but was spent some time talking about a project with someone in Sage. While talking, I saw some birds flying out in Crescent Bay and decided to check them out instead of going over the bridge. There were at least half a dozen storm-petrels flying about not too far out off the breakwater and I spent some time watching them. While watching, I saw a Bald Eagle fly up behind them and dive down. I was far enough away (over by the Crescent Harbor boat ramp) that I could not tell whether it got anything. It flew back to one of the pilings near Sage and when I saw a puff of feathers as it pulled at something in its talons, I knew it had successfully caught a storm-petrel. By the time I was able to get over to the breakwater near the pilings, it had already finished eating. All that was left were some feathers at its feet and in the water around the piling.

Weather: It’s been pretty wet for the last few days. Today we had a record rainfall for the day, almost 3 inches fell, with much of it coming before noon. Winds were pretty stiff this afternoon.

Birds: There have been lots of birds around. I’ve seen Townsend’s Warblers, Orange-crowned Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, Varied Thrushes, Robins, Steller’s Jays, Golden-crowned Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and possibly Lincoln’s Sparrows.

Today when we went for a drive and checked out the birds from the ramp on Japonski Island there were lots of sparrows in the grass and shrubs between the ramp and the beach. I’m sure I saw Savannah, Song, and Golden-crowned Sparrows, but am less confident about whether I saw a Lincoln’s Sparrow. There were also several Black-legged Kittiwakes out in the channel and at least one storm-petrel (which I was unable to identify at the time due to the distance and unfamiliarity with the species).

Other Notes: I saw a deer track a couple of days ago in the mud on the shortcut to Sage Building. It’s the first track I have seen around the neighborhood since spring. A student told me about seeing a deer somewhere near the dorms as well.

There was a clump of Inky Cap mushrooms growing in the grass not far from the road up to DSH on campus.

I did not spend too much time outside today.

Weather: It was raining for much of the day. Winds seemed to be light around campus.

Birds:

At Sage rock near high tide there were a couple dozen gulls, a Double-crested Cormorant and some Harlequin Ducks. There were probably over 30 Harlequin Ducks total from Sage Rock to the Hatchery outflow.