Sitka Nature

Weather: It was not raining today, but overcast skies continued. Winds were negligible.

Flora: On the walk to the park, I took a look at a plant I had previously seen in the estuary but had not been able to identify. It was blooming today and looked a lot like scurvy grass. It may be scurvy grass, but I am not sure why it’s development is so much later than the other instances of it that I have seen.

I saw some red huckleberries just starting to get ripe along Lincoln Street.

I forgot to mention that the cotton from the cottonwood trees was blowing about a week ago.

Some of the Red Elderberries are starting to turn red.

There are hemlock seedlings in great abundance right now (see photo). Almost everywhere there is open ground, the hemlocks are trying to get a start. I suspect these are from the bumper crop of cones after last years pollen explosion.

Birds: There was a flock of Black Turnstones out near the river mouth at the park today. They were out on one of the gravel bar islands created by the incoming tide, so I was not able to see how many there were nor, if there were any others in among them.

There were a couple of mallards (females, it appeared to me) flying over the tide flats at the park. I did not notice any in the estuary.

This evening I saw a great blue heron flying over the house. Later in the evening I heard one perched in one of the trees behind the house. As I was looking for it, it took off and flew away. I am not sure if it was seeking to get away from my attention, or perhaps something else was disturbing it.

There was what appeared to be a family of Townsend’s Warblers feeding in the backyard alders this afternoon.

Other Notes: Connor and his grandpa went fishing at Indian River today. They managed to land a couple of pink salmon that were still pretty bright. The fish have not really started moving up river in significant numbers yet, but there are definitely sizable schools getting ready to move up.

Rowan and her grams went along with Connor and grandpa to watch. When I stopped by to see how things were going, Rowan was having fun looking for butterflies (that were actually moths, I think).

Jonathan, the kids, and I took a short walk to Totem Park today so I could introduce Jonathan to Kitty LaBounty. Jonathan is interested in doing more with plants and Kitty has worked as a botanist for a number of years.

Weather: Overcast with light winds. It started raining this evening.

Birds: I am still hearing occasional Winter Wren songs. While we were at the park a Swainson’s Thrush landed in an alder tree nearby and started singing, but it flew off before I had the chance to take a picture.

Flora: Kitty was working on clearing out western buttercups, a particularly unruly invasive species in the park, when we showed up. Rowan and Connor (but mostly Connor) seemed to enjoy knocking down and pulling up the buttercups during the time we spent there.

Rowan noticed a small mushroom and had me take a picture of it (shown above).

Rowan and I went for a good walk through Totem Park today. Plants are definitely progressing on toward summer.

Weather: The day started sunny, but by noon it was overcast with the clouds moving up out of the south. In the evening there was some partial clearing. Temperatures were in the 60s, so it felt pleasantly warm. There was a good breeze out of the south while we were at the park.

Birds: While in the park we heard a woodpecker. I still don’t have the call notes solid, so I am not sure which species.

There was a flock of seven large birds flying over campus this evening. I am pretty sure they were Great Blue Herons, but someone else said they were sandhill cranes.

Flora: The purple sweet-cicely are nearing the end of their blooming in the park. Stream violets are still going strong. Rosy and clasping Twisted Stalk are getting ready to bloom. Beach greens and Siberian miner’s lettuce are blooming in the estuary. There are mustards blooming in various locations. Rowan noticed a slime mold growing on the end of a log near the trail as we walked through the park.

Other Notes: We found some deer tracks in the sand at the upper end of the estuary. I had Rowan try to follow them, but she tended to go back and ‘discover’ prints that were from where the deer came rather than where it was going.

Rowan also spotted a number of the flowers we saw today. She liked to point them out and ask me if I was going to take a picture.

At one point while I was trying to observe a Swainson’s Thrush, Rowan found a side trail and asked if we could take it. It was not much of a trail, but she did a good job following it through the brush.

Swainson’s Thrush Singing (465kb mp3)

Weather: Saturday morning it was foggy, but the fog started to break up in the late morning. Sunday it rained throughout the day with low clouds.

Birds: It seemed like the birds were singing more on Sunday. I am not sure if that had something to do with the bird’s response to wet weather or if it was just me.

Other Notes: Rowan and I went out and gathered greens to add to calzones that I was making for supper on Sunday. We picked spinach, dandelions, and stream violets.