Sitka Nature

As far as I know, Snowy Owls do not occur in the Sitka area every winter, but they do seem to occur with some regularity either around town or an outlying area (Kruzof Island or upland muskegs behind town). Last year there had been one spotted on Japonski Island in various locations and, despite several tries, I never was able to find it. Yesterday there was a Snowy Owl seen on Alice Island and with some hope of seeing it, I went there this morning with the birding class for our weekly bird walk.

We wandered all around the island and over to the Airport Lagoon, with a final stop over by the Airport Fence (it’s actually on Charcoal Island, I think). After we had pretty much given up on the owl and were heading back to the car to go back to campus, we did finally spot the owl perched on top of a snow covered rock pile. The owl had started to attract the attention of some crows, though they seemed a little reluctant to get too close. After a few minutes, it flew off over into the restricted area by the runway. It was followed closely by a half-dozen or so crows.

As we were leaving, Andrew and his wife Maite were just pulling up to look for the owl. (Maite really wants to see a Snowy Owl and is interested in going to Barrow to do so, if necessary. I think Andrew is interested in seeing one, but not so much in a trip to Barrow.) We spoke with them briefly about walking around the island and only seeing it at the very end and how it flew off toward the runway (with crows in pursuit).

Later in the day I went back with Connor and Rowan so they might get to see it. We saw Andrew and his wife Maite again. They told me they were unsuccessful this morning, but they did see it this afternoon. Andrew said he had seen it on a flat rock over by the airport just before it took off and flew onto Alice Island, but he was not sure where it had landed. As we walked down the path, it was not too hard to figure out that the owl was probably at the end of the island, since there were many crows in that area cawing (with more flying in). We tried to approach carefully, but there are many small alder trees there and visibility was limited. I think the owl became uncomfortable with our approach before we even saw it (or knew exactly where it was) and we saw it shortly after it took off with several crows in pursuit. (Maite was able to see the owl as it flew, but I did not ask her whether that was good enough to avoid making a trip to Barrow; maybe she’ll get a better look before the bird moves on.) The crows seemed to be more aggressive than this morning. This morning they had just flown after it, but this time they were actively diving at it and appeared to be trying to grab its feathers. It ended up flying over the water and landed inside the trees on Turning Island. The crows chased it much of the way, but the last of them gave up pursuit before the owl reached the island.

We took the birding class over to Alice Island this morning in hopes of finding the Snowy Owl that was seen there yesterday. I went back two other times later in the day, once with Rowan and Connor, the other time by myself a little before sunset.

Weather: Clear skies prevailed last night and temperatures dropped into the upper 20s. As I am writing this, the thermometer indicates the temperature has already dropped to 23 degrees, so it’s going to be colder tonight. Winds were calm and both the sunrise and sunset were colorful today. (This time of year it’s pretty easy to observe both of them.)

Birds: There were a couple of Great Blue Herons along the Alice Island shore line. We saw several Greater Scaups, Goldeneye, and Bufflehead in the Airport Lagoon. I saw a Northern Flicker and several Song Sparrows around the island. Birds in the water off of Alice Island included Pelagic Cormorants and Buffleheads. We did find the Snowy Owl just before we left.

There was a lone bird calling rather loudly around campus today, but I couldn’t tell what it was. It did fly overhead and perch at the top of a Hemlock tree behind our house (I was down near Fraser at the time). From that distance, about all I could tell was the bird had a very red head. If I had to guess, I would have said it was a Pine Grosbeak or a Red Crossbill, it did not seem to be acting in a manner I consider typical of either species, however (of course, I’ve only seen Pine Grosbeaks a couple of times).

There was a Ring-necked Pheasant reported along Sawmill Creek Road near where the flume passes underneath the road. It was sighted a short time later behind Sweetland through the windows of the cafeteria.

Other Notes:
On my second trip to Alice Island when we saw the Snowy Owl fly off (but didn’t get a good look at it), I noticed a loud squeaky/chirpy noise that seemed to be coming from the fish cleaning float. I couldn’t figure out what on the float could be making that noise, so I was a little puzzled. About that time, I noticed an otter swim out from underneath it. I could see that the otter was chirping, and upon seeing it I remembered the call. It did not come out far from the float before swimming back underneath it. The quality of the sound of the call changed pretty significantly when it was in the middle of the float (it’s a square shaped with a central part open to the water for fish guts to go into the water). Apparently the float acted as a kind of reverberation chamber. That was part of the reason I had not recognized the call as being biological in origin to begin with.

The snow has formed a light crust and is very powedery underneath. On another snow related note, there is a dramatic difference between the amount of snow in open areas and underneath the trees. Where I have walked through the woods, even where the trees are not that dense, there tends to be at most 3 or 4 inches of snow (some places don’t have any). In the open, the snow has got to be over a foot deep. I am guessing it has to do with the pattern of snow fall, daily temperatures, and the forest canopy. The snow did not fall all in one big storm, instead it accumulated over several days. Temperatures throughout that time were frequently at or a little above freezing. When it did clear off for brief periods of time, the trees kept the ground/air underneath them from cooling quickly due to radiation of heat. With much of snow caught in the canopy initially, what did fall to the ground was melted by the relatively warm ground. That which was in the canopy melted faster than that on the ground because of a larger surface area exposed to the warm air.

One of the large exposed rocks (bed rock?) along Westwood Trail where it approaches Sawmill Creek Road had no snow on it. There was snow on the ground around it (the rock doesn’t actually protrude above the surrounding soil signficantly). My guess was the rock had enough stored thermal energy that it was able to melt the snow. The surrounding soil probably did not conduct heat efficiently enough to warm the snow to melting.

On my last trip to Alice Island today I walked out on the rocks for a little while. The rocks were on the south end of the island and all the snow had melted off of them. I felt the dark rocks and they were warm to the touch. Even the low angle of the winter sunlight was sufficient to warm these dark rocks. With no breeze to carry the warmth away, it was quite pleasant to sit and enjoy the heat of the sun and rock.