Sitka Nature

Those who check this site frequently or subscribe to the feed may have noticed that a few back dated posts showed up today. My internet connection has been spotty for the last three weeks, so keeping up with things has been a bit of a challenge. Hopefully the maintenance work GCI is doing in the area will be completed soon and the service will be a bit more reliable.

I recently acquired a skin-on-frame kayak (built by my brother in a class taught by Brian Schulz of Cape Falcon Kayak; everyone I talked to about it thought it was a great class). It has a marked advantage for me over the other kayak I have been borrowing for the last year or so in that it is relatively easy for me to carry by msyelf. I went for a couple short paddles last week after I got it and decided to take advantage of a nice evening and paddle around Crescent Bay as the sun was setting.

Weather: Another sunny and warm day. There was a think layer of high elevation clouds that started to move in from off-shore this afternoon. Winds were calm this morning and evening, but it was a little breezy during the day.

Birds: There were lots of gulls along the beach at the park this evening (the tide was fairly low). It seemed to me that most of them were Mew Gulls, with quite a few juveniles mixed in. I will probably try to get down there again in the next couple of days to verify this, get some photos, and look for unusual gulls.

I saw a few Marbled Murrelets out in Crescent Bay. The one I got closest to appeared to have fish in its beak. I am guessing it was preparing to head back to its nest.

There were a couple of Great Blue Herons along the shore line.

I did not see any phalaropes, though they should be in the area by now.

Other Notes: The Pink Salmon were thick enough that I could feel them hitting the bottom of my kayak as they startled away from me on my approach to shore. Perhaps the dim light made it more difficult for them to see me coming, because this didn’t happen when I was starting out.

Yesterday evening and early this afternoon I went for short kayaking outings on Crescent Bay. Later in the afternoon, I went to Sage Beach with Jonathan, Connor and Rowan, and we did some wading and swimming (the kids had done some of that with Melissa earlier in the afternoon as well, when I had gone kayaking).

Weather: Yesterday was partly cloudy. In the evening (coincidentally, right around the time I went kayaking) there were some pretty heavy downpours. Today was sunny and very warm.

Birds: There were several Marbled Murrelets not far off the beach at the park yesterday. Today I saw a couple, but not as many.

While kayaking yesterday, I saw some shorebirds flying away from the park. There were some peeps and a couple of larger shorebirds, but I am not sure what species they were.

Other Notes: The pink salmon have congregated along the shore again. Perhaps a new wave of them has moved in.

On my little swim around Sage Rock, I found the water was actually warmer about 6 inches below the surface. I suspect that was due to the freshwater coming out of the hatchery being on the surface. As there is a fair bit of cold water flowing out, and freshwater is less dense than saltwater, the surface stayed cool.

This morning someone sent an e-mail to the Sitka Birds e-mail list about a Snow Bunting seen at Totem Park yesterday. I used that as an excuse to take a quick walk through the park before going to the airport to pick up the speaker for tonight’s bird seminar on Marbled Murrelets. This afternoon although it looked a little breezy out on the water, I decided to go for a short paddle. It was pretty calm right off Sage Beach, but I could see the whitecaps out to the Southeast off of Jamestown Bay. I decided to head that direction and nose out into the waves a little bit just to get a little taste of those conditions. I did not need to wait long since, as I was nearing the southeast end of the park tidalflats, the wind brought the waves to me. A sustained bit of wind was blowing almost at my face and I discovered that it was quite a bit more difficult to manuever. With a little effort I got turned around and headed back. Even then, paddling was a little more challenging as the waves coming from behind me tended to cause the kayak to veer off course. Before too long the breeze abated and I was back in calm water. All in all, I think it was a good first experience with some wind and waves.

Weather: With clear skies persisting overnight and through the day, it got down in the 20s last night and was chilly and breezy today.

Birds: On my walk through the park, I saw several Song Sparrows foraging along the beach, but no Snow Bunting. I also saw a couple of Black Scoters in with the flock of Surf Scoters off the south beach of the park.

The talk on Marbled Murrelets this evening was very interesting. I may write up a separate entry on some of the things I learned at a later time.

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.