Sitka Nature

The ocean seemed pretty calm, and although it was chilly this morning, I decided I would head out on the kayak again. My plans were to head toward Eastern Channel, to see if the whales were still out there and also to see about getting photos of some of the seabirds I haven’t typically had the chance to watch. When I got out there, I saw the whales were quite a bit further out away from the mouth of Silver Bay than they had been on Friday and I decided not to venture that far. I turned back toward Silver Bay and paddled along looking for birds. On my way back in, I made a detour to the mouth of Indian River before meeting Melissa and the kids at Sage Beach.

Weather: It got down into the upper 20s last night and things seem to have frozen a bit harder, though there was less frost. High thin clouds moved over town, though there were occasional breaks in them through the afternoon. Although the sun could still be seen through the clouds, it definitely felt much warmer when the sun was not obscured. Winds were light and variable, blowing mostly out of the south when I was out in Eastern Channel.

Birds: There was a pair of Marbled Murrelets right out in Crescent Bay as I headed out this morning.

There was a loon just off the park, but I was not able to get close enough for a good identification.

As I was paddling through Crescent Bay, I saw a Long-tailed Duck flying toward the bridge.

There were quite a few alcids out north and east of the green can at the rocky patch. I could hear them, but was unable to get very close to most of them. I did manage to get photos of three murres that look to be Thick-billed Murres, possibly first year birds.

On the way in, I think I saw a Red-necked Grebe, but it took off before I could get a picture.

There were several Black-legged Kittiwakes in with the gulls near the mouth of Indian River and out further on the beach. They seemed more skittish than the rest of the gulls, as they were the first to fly off when I approached the shore (and most of the gulls did not fly off at all).

There was a flock of 20 or so Surf Scoters near the park. I also so several Harlequins and Buffleheads.

There was one Goldeneye, a first year bird or a female, at the mouth of Indian River. It was probably a Barrow’s Goldeneye, but it was hard to say for sure. I think it’s the first one of those I have seen this fall.

Most of the Mallards seemed to be out on the southwest tidal flats today. There were only a couple over by the river mouth that I saw.

Off of Lincoln Street beach, a male and two female American Wigeons took flight. They had been a little ways off-shore.

Marine Mammals: The whales had moved farther out, but they were still in Eastern Channel.

Shortly after I left the mouth of Indian River, I saw a Sea Otter. It’s the first time I have seen one of these in so close to town. It’s nose was noticably raw. I have heard that they bite noses when mating, so perhaps that is what had happened to this one. It seemed a little curious about me, and stopped to look at me for a little bit before swimming off.

There were two harbor seals quite near shore. Both of them approached/let me approach fairly close. One of them was in water that was no more than 4-5 feet deep. When it swam off, I could see it under the water.

Other Notes: There must be quite a bit of small feed fish schooled up in Eastern Channel right now. The gulls were active again in the area, the whales are still around, and there were several trollers fishing. I did not see any of them bring in fish, but I am guessing they were going for King Salmon that were going after the same thing as the birds and whales.

The freeze last night was the hardest this fall, so far. I think it was probably only the second widespread freezing tempeatures, actually (with the first being the night before). Needle ice formed in the garden beds, even with plastic over them. I think Melissa’s lettuce might be done for now. I was actually a little surprised that it seemed to have survived the frost without a cover the night before. Temperatures are supposed to stay above freezing for the next few days, so we’ll see if any of the lettuce survived.

I made a couple of short trips outside today. I went to Swan Lake to look at the birds and then down to Sage Beach around sunset to check on the moon.

Weather: Mostly sunny today. There was a pretty heavy frost last night, but it did not really seem to freeze the plants. I guess there was a lot of moisture in the air that crystalized into the frost when the temperature hit 32F, but it did not get too much colder than that. When I was at Swan Lake, there was a pretty good breeze blowing across the lake out of the north.

Birds: The American Coot was still at Swan Lake. It seems to like hiding in the vegetation near the green moose just off of the penninsula while people are around. When it’s comfortable, it will venture out a little bit and feed by diving down and pulling stuff up from the bottom. In the times I have observed it this year, I have seen it go some distance from the moose and adjacent vegetation, but it seems pretty clear that it’s most comfortable there.

There were quite a few scaups out on the lake, but they were too far out for me to get a good identification.

At the upper end of the lake I did see a few Buffleheads.

The forecast was for thunderstorms moving through, but this morning it was sunny over town, so I decided to get out and go kayaking between my morning and early afternoon classes. I headed out from Sage Beach up to the Northeast end of the channel and back. It took me about 25 minutes to get from the end of the channel back to Sage. The blue skies persisted into the afternoon, and I decided to head back out after my last class for a couple of hours. This time I went Southwest toward the Eastern Channel and the mouth of Silver Bay. From the middle of Eastern Channel near the mouth of Silver Bay, it took me about an hour to paddle back to Sage Beach. This included a couple of brief stops to take photos of Marbled Murrelets. It probably helped that the wind was in my favor.

Weather: Despite the forecast, the clear weather persisted over town. There were clouds in the distance, but they never really moved on-shore. There was a little breeze coming out of the north when I was in the channel this morning, and it seemed to be coming out of the south when I went to Eastern Channel this afternoon. I think overall the prevailing wind throughout the day was light and out of the northeast, so I am not sure why it was blowing out of the south/southwest when I was out this afternoon.

Birds: My goal (other than just enjoying the nice day) for this morning’s paddle was to see if I could get pictures of Long-tailed Ducks and/or loons in the channel. I did see a couple of groups of Long-tailed Ducks, and was able to get photos of some of them (see above). The first group had 9 birds, and the second 8. I am pretty sure they were different birds.

The gulls seemed to be much less numerous in the channel than the last time I went out that way.

In among the gulls there were several scaups. Most of them seemed to be females or first year birds, but I did not look that close.

I did finally spot a Loon near the breakwater at the Northeast end of the channel. I tried to guess where the loon would come up, but did not have too much luck. Still, I was able to get photos that provided enough detail for me to think it was a Common Loon.

There were several Buffleheads in the area of the breakwater near the Coast Guard gazebo.

This afternoon, as I paddled past the park, I spotted a bird that I thought at first might be a loon. The pictures I took make it seem likely that it was actually a Red-breasted Merganser. It sure looked bigger than that at the time.

There were gulls scattered throughout from Crescent Bay to Eastern Channel. On at least a couple of different occasions, I saw small flocks of gulls actively flying and diving together in a small area. I suspect there must have been some small fish near the surface.

When I got out into Eastern Channel, I started seeing and hearing some alcids. I was not able to get close enough to tell whether the Murres I saw where Common or Thick-billed. There were several Marbled Murrelets, and I was able to get photos of a couple on my way back in. These were actually not too far off-shore from Harris Island.

There was a single loon right out in the middle of Eastern Channel near the mouth of Silver Bay. It was too far away for me to get a positive identification of it, however. I did take a picture, so perhaps someone with better skills than me will be able to tell what it was.

This evening there was a Red-breasted Sapsucker on the trees along Hillcrest Drive. It is the first one of those that I have seen around the house in almost two months.

Other Notes: When I was just paddling in to Sage Beach this morning, I noticed several whale spouts that looked pretty close. If I had to guess, I think they were probably out from Jamestown Bay. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had class that I needed to teach, I would have headed out toward them right then. As it was, they provided some motivation to get out in the afternoon. By this afternoon, they had moved out into the middle of Eastern Channel west of Sugarloaf Mountain. I was operating with time constraints again this afternoon, and though I got close enough to actually see their bodies, I did not have a chance to spend as much time watching them as I might have prefered.

I went downtown today and spent some time at the Back Door. On my way back, I went by Swan Lake to check out the birds there. I ended up spending a half an hour or so watching birds, taking pictures and trying to avoid the hail by sitting under a tree.
This evening there was a pretty nice pre-sunset (it wasn’t really setting just yet, but the lighting was pretty dramatic as the sun was low in the sky and behind a large cloud), so I went down to Lincoln Street Beach to watch the sun set and take a few pictures.

Weather: Another blustery day with periodic thunderstorms moving through. I did not see any flashes or hear any thunder today, but there was some hail. The sun also peaked through for some periods of time. At one point I was able to see a rainbow from my office window. Temperatures were down in the upper-30s last night and the snow level looked like it might have made it down to 2000 feet or so.

Birds: On the way into town, there was a lone Harlequin Duck in Crescent Harbor.

When I arrived at Swan Lake, the mallards were causing traffic to back up a little as they crossed the street in a big group. I parked my bike at the penninsula and heard someone call my name. The glare from the sun was pretty bright off the wet pavement, and I could not see who had called my name, but I thought I heard the voice say something about a shorebird. I figured out who was talking to me but still did not see the shorebird, so I went over to talk with Marge, who was checking out the birds from her car and then I saw where the shorebird was feeding (it was obscured by a tree from where I had originally been standing). Marge and Tedin drove off, but I stayed to look at the birds for a little while longer.

The shorebird was a Dowitcher, and I am pretty sure it was a juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher based on the calls I heard it make occasionally, the rounded back it showed while feeding, and the tertials also appear to be more consistent with the Long-billed Dowitcher rather than the Pacific form of the Short-billed Dowitcher (see photo below).

The coot was still on the lake and I tried to get some pictures of it, but it stayed out a little too far. I gave up and went back to watching the dowitcher. In the mean time the coot swam over to feed pretty close to the road, so I had a chance to get a good look at it then (see photo above).

There were quite a few scaups out in the lake, a little far for me to tell whether they were Lesser or Greater Scaups, however.

I think there might have been a Golden-crowned Sparrow in the shrubs near the lake edge and I am sure there was at least one Song Sparrow.

This evening I saw quite a few ducks out off the park. I don’t know if they were Harlequins, Scoters, both, or something else as the light was getting dim and the birds were some distance away.

Flora: There were a couple of plants with flowers still hanging on along Swan Lake. I saw a yarrow with some flowers and a Foxglove with a stalk that looked pretty dead, but it still had a few purple flowers at the top.