Between recovering from the semester and getting through Christmas, it’s been a busy few days. I did get out a couple of times a little way up Indian River to investigate a dead pine tree (more on that in an upcoming post). I’ve also busied myself setting up a photoblog. I will keep putting photos in with this weblog, but the emphasis will continue to be on the observations and thoughts. I decided it would be nice to have a place to put a little more focus on some of the photos I take that I like, so I started the photoblog.

Weather: Wind continued through Christmas, though it was not so breezy today. There has been rain mostly, with a little bit of snow. When the clouds are thin in the evening, the temperature has dropped into the low 30s with frost/ice forming on the ground.

Birds: Today up in an Indian River muskeg, we saw a lone waxwing. I’m pretty sure it was a Bohemian Waxwing, but it did not stick around for long.

On the way back from Indian River, I saw a Redpoll by the gym along the flume.

Although I have not seen it in at least a couple of weeks, Connor and Melissa saw the heron at the flume on Christmas.

Other Notes: There was an insect of some sort flying around the muskeg today. I guess it was above freezing, but it sure seems like a bad time of year for it to be out and about.

There was lots of evidence of insect work on the inside of the pine tree’s bark. We even saw at least one larva.

Connor and I went out to New Thompson Harbor to see if anything interesting had blown in during the winds of recent days.

Weather: It was windy for much of the day, with winds blowing out of the southeast. It seemed fairly light through noon, but there was a dark band of clouds moving in from the west. By the time Connor and I were headed home, the dark band had reached down and brought with it some rain. I thought it was probably around 3pm becuase it had gotten relatively dark, but when I got home I found out it was not even 2:30pm; the decreasing light was due to the much thicker clouds. This time of year, with the sun so low, the thickness of clouds makes a much larger difference in the amount of light we get on the ground.

Birds: We did not see anything unusual. There were a couple of loons on the outside of the short section of Crescent Harbor’s Breakwater. We saw several more loons when we were at New Thompson Harbor. At least three of the loons (including the two pictured above) were Pacific Loons. I think I may need to spend some more time down at the harbor in better light to get some good photos of loons.

There was a sizable flock of scaups in a little cove near Sitka Sound Seafoods. I have seen scaups there previously as well.

Grades were due today and I spent a fair amount of time in my office working on them and trying to get it re-organized and cleaned up. This afternoon there was a break in the clouds, so I decided to go for a short walk down to Totem Park.

Weather: It was another windy day. Winds seemed to be out of the west or southwest down at the park. The breeze was blowing pretty strongly on to the west shore at Totem Park. In the woods, the smaller hemlocks were all showing the light undersides of their needles as they were blowing in the wind. Just a short distance through the woods in the estuary, it was actually pretty calm. The tops of some of the trees were swaying in the wind, but down at ground level there was little wind.

Birds: Many birds seem to enjoy soaring in one place as they face into the wind. I saw eagles, ravens, and gulls all doing this.

There were only a few birds that I could see off the west beach of Totem Park. There may have been more that I did not see due to the waves blocking them from sight. I did see Harlequin Ducks diving near to the shore. A little later I saw several Barrow’s Goldeneye right where waves were breaking over a shallow area some distance from the beach (the tide was up pretty high). It appeared to me that the goldeneyes had chosen to hang out where the waves were breaking on purpose. Perhaps they find it fun.

Other birds at the park included several Mallards in the estuary and out at the point, just out of the stronger winds. There was a Great Blue Heron perched on a stump in the estuary.

School and working on a Sitka vascular plant list has been keeping me pretty occupied the last few days. It’s been stormy for two or three days now. Monday (when the photo was taken) there were breaks between squalls, with occasional thunder and lightning. Tuesday there were heavy clouds all day, and it seemed fairly dark. Today it was cloudy most of the day, though much lighter than yesterday. The sun did peak through the clouds a couple of times. The wind was blowing pretty strong yesterday and this morning. When I walked downtown yesterday, it looked like there was some pretty significant wave action coming in the mouth of Crescent Harbor. A student told me that the surfing was good out at Sandy Beach both Monday and Tuesday.