Sitka Nature

Rowan and I biked around this morning in hopes of finding the Snow Goose that has been reported a couple of times in the last week.

Weather: Overcast for most of the day, though there was partial clearing. Calm through much of the day, though light winds started in the afternoon.

Birds: At Swan Lake it was pretty quiet near the penninsula. There were a pair of Northern Shovelers and an American Wigeon in the pond lilies up a little ways. At the upper end of the lake it appeared there were some scaups. A handful of Savannah Sparrows were on the penninsula itself. I noticed quite a few Mallards, but conspicuously absent were many females. I think I might have seen a couple of them among the 20 or more males. I suspect they may be somewhere around the lake sitting on a nest.

Flora: Yellow Pond Lilies are starting to bloom.

A few evenings ago I noticed a female deer in our back yard. She seemed a bit larger than I might expect, so I wondered if she might be pregnant. It turns out that Sitka Blacktailed Deer typically give birth in late May or early June, so the timing would not suggest that she isn’t. If so, it might be interesting to see if she stays around the neighborhood with a young deer. At least two deer, including one buck, have been frequenting the neighborhood, and I am sort of assuming that it’s consistently been the same individuals. I also wonder if they are the same individuals that we have seen over the past couple of years, mostly in the spring.

It’s interesting that these deer have shown up in recent years. My dad said that in all the years he had a garden up here, he only remembered seeing deer tracks once. I’ve found them many more times than that in the last three years, so that suggests to me that this incursion of deer is relatively recent. I wonder why they have decided the neighborhood isn’t a bad place after apparently avoiding it previously.

I took a walk up Gavan Hill trail while Rowan was in preschool, then later in the day went through Totem Park with her.

Weather: It was mostly cloudy but pretty warm, considering the spring. Temperatures got up into the mid 50s, at least. Winds were calm.

Birds: At Swan Lake there was a female Canvasback at the lower end. I saw a few Mallards tucked away in the yellow pondlilies, but overall it was pretty quiet for waterfowl.

At Totem Park this afternoon there were 13 Whimbrels, a handful of Mew Gulls, three Green-winged Teal, a Spotted Sandpiper, and quite a few Savannah Sparrows. Off the beach were a dozen or so Scaup and a separate group of close to 20 Surf Scoters. In front of Sage Beach were 18 Common Mergansers. I also noted two Harlequin Ducks off the park.

Flora: Today was the first time I noted Purple Sweet-cicely (Osmorhiza purpurea) in bloom (seen while walking through Totem Park). I also noted that Three-leaf Goldthread (Coptis trifolia) was blooming along Gavan Trail. I also saw Tufted Bulrush (Tricophorum caespitosum) as well as another sedge getting started blooming. Overall the muskeg was still fairly brown, however.

Green berries were present on Early Blueberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium) bushes along Gavan trail just up from the muskeg.

Villous Cinquefoil (Potentilla villosa) was starting to bloom on Sage Beach.