On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place
Plants
I am not so good at identifying fungi, but earth tongues seem relatively easy to identify to family (Geoglossaceae) and maybe even genus, but after that things get quite a bit more challenging. These were seen in a patch of muskeg that is a little different then most of what I see around here. Perhaps … Read more
While walking the Forest and Muskeg trail yesterday, I stopped to take the pictures I’m using on this post. There are two things in particular that catch my eye, one that I noticed at the time (and prompted me to take the pictures in the first place). The second I didn’t notice until I got … Read more
Menzies’ Burnet (Sanguisorba menziesii) along Harbor Mountain Trail Menzies’ Burnet (Sanguisorba menziesii) is the least common of the burnets found around Sitka. It’s my understanding that it came about as a hybridization of the two more common species Canadian burnet (S. canadensis) and common burnet (S. officinalis). It certainly appears that way, with the shaggy … Read more
Photo linked from the Earth Observatory page (larger versions available there) After recent observations of the greening of Silver Bay and the suggestion that the cause was a coccolithophore bloom, I was interested to see the photo above on NASA’s Earth Observatory page. This particular entry discusses an imaging showing two different kinds of plankton … Read more
Looking somewhat like dark brown over-cooked spaghetti draped over the barnacle encrusted rock of the high intertidal on Magic Island, the aptly named rubber threads (Nemalion helminthoides) were new to me. As far as I can tell at this point (still early in my learning about marine algae), there is not really anything else they … Read more
Late Summer at Herring Cove Trailhead I had heard a report of a hen goldeneye with young on Beaver Lake almost two weeks ago, and with my parents’ visit it had slipped my mind. I still wanted to go up there and look, and since it was my parents’ last full day in town and … Read more