Sitka Nature

I took a relatively short walk today. I biked to where the Cross Trail meets the quarry road. I left my bike there and walked up the road, cut down to hte muskeg below the quarry, then to Indian River Trail and back up the Cross Trail to my bike. I ended up spending a fair amount of time taking pictures, so despite the relatively short distance, it still took me a couple of hours.

Weather: There was quite a bit of rain today. Clouds were low, and temperatures were in the upper-40s. There wasn’t much wind on my walk, but I got very wet.

Birds: While walking, I saw or heard Rufous Hummingbirds, Varied Thrush, Orange-crowned Warbler, Dark-eyed Junco, Steller’s Jay, American Robin, and Hermit Thrushes.

Flora: Things looked pretty similar to Saturday when I was in the same area. I think I forgot to mention the grasses and sedges blooming, however. Today I also noticed that there were Cloudberry flowers that still had not opened yet, so if the rain lets up soon, I may be able to get some pictures of the flowers that have not been beaten up by the rain.

Most of the day was spent at home, but Melissa, Connor, Rowan and I went for a walk along Westwood Trail and through the park this evening.

Weather: Overcast with a little bit of rain, but not too much. There was a bit of a breeze at various times throughout the day, but it was quite calm in the park.

Birds: We didn’t see too many birds, but did hear a Northern Flicker, Common Ravens, Varied Thrush, and Townsend’s Warblers. In front of the visitor’s center there were a dozen or more Northern Shovelers as well as soom Mallards.

Flora: Purple Sweet-cicely looks like it’s just passing its peak blooming, though there are still quite a few flowers.

Salmonberries are still blooming, with many green berries also getting bigger.

Stream Violet was abundant along the trail in the park.

Gray Currants were blooming along the shortcut up past the Sheahan’s.

I noticed some flower buds on Goatsbeard.

Other Notes: Rowan spotted the moth pictured in this entry. In the photos I took of it, I noticed there were several little creatures (probably mites) that were also on the trunk, but too small to show up as anything but little dots that changed places from frame to frame. I might try to get a photo of one of those later with the 5x macro, but they will probably still look very small.

I went for a walk today. The route I took went along the flume pipe, then up to the SJ gravel quarry. From there I cut down through the muskeg to Indian River Trail and walked back home.

Weather: Low clouds moved in over the last couple of days. Today it rained a bit and temperatures were in the mid-50s. There was a little bit of a breeze when I was on my walk, but not very much.

Birds: There were several juncos quite actively singing along the muskeg not far from where the Cross Trail crosses the quarry road. They were making calls I didn’t recognize, so I might try to get back there in the next couple of days with recording equipment, though I’m not sure if they will still be so vocal then.

I also saw a Lincoln’s Sparrow, a thrush (probably Hermit), Steller’s Jay, Robin, and Raven while in the muskeg area along the quarry road.

I heard hummingbirds several times, but the only two I saw were perched on top of fairly tall dead trees in muskegs. They sat there for awhile, but I’m not sure why.

Flora: When I saw all the flowers blooming, I was feeling like I should have been out a couple of days ago. Many of the flowers were past their prime, and the rains of the last day or so didn’t do them any favors.

The flowers that seemed to be furthest along were Cloudberry and Three-leaf Goldthread. Northern Starflowers were also blooming. Bog Rosemary and Alpine Azalea were just getting started, though there were several blooms showing. Bog Laurel had flower buds, but I did not see any actual blooms.

I noticed on some of the Crowberries that little berries were already starting to form. I did see several flowers this year, but I didn’t see any obvious means by which the flowers were polinated. They are very small and inconspicuous, but the berries are so abundant, that it leads me to think they must get successfully polinated without too much trouble (I’m assuming that polination is required for berries to form).

Stream Violets were still abundant along Indian River Trail.

Other Notes:

I started a rather ambitious project that I’m calling the 1000 Species Project. It will have its own weblog.