Highlights of Recent Photo Uploads
Photojournal
Recent Updates (includes older previously unpublished entries – go to the Photojournal page for only recent entries):
Sandy Beach Visit and Spring Snow Showers
Windy Weather
Signs of Late Winter and Early Spring
Lichens and Early Spring Growth
A Day In Seattle
Radio Show/Podcast
Sitka Nature Show #336 – Alice and Chuck Johnstone (encore)
Sitka Nature Show #335 – Adam Haberski (encore)
Sitka Nature Show #334 – Mary Goddard
Sitka Nature Show #333 – Connor Goff
Explore the Archive
Today in Sitka Nature History:
Channel Birds
March 16, 2023
Windy and rainy, temperatures in the 40s. Much of the snow melted off overnight and through the day. I heard strong gusts of winds overnight. It was still pretty gusty … Read more
Gray Day Gulls
March 16, 2022
Overcast with rain (primarily in the afternoon). Winds out of the southeast. Continuing the pattern of the past couple of days, my time outside coincided with the rain. I spent … Read more
Mid-March Birds
March 16, 2021
Yesterday’s rain total of 1.77″ broke the previous record which appears to be 1.38″ in 1959 (at some point it might be interesting to go through and figure out how … Read more
Walking the Beach in Search of Gulls
March 16, 2020
With social distancing recommended, and increasingly mandated through closures and restrictions, my day-to-day life hasn’t really changed that much. Most of my work, I do from home. The exception is … Read more
Indian River Valley
March 16, 2018
It was time to get the data from the Indian River ibuttons I’ve been maintaining for a few years (at some point I should do something with all the temperature … Read more
Walking and Kayaking
March 16, 2015
After the snow this weekend, today’s forecast was for mostly sunny and temperatures into the upper 40s. After making sure to shut my computer down by 11pm last night (having … Read more
Raven Radio Show #49 – Tania Lewis
March 16, 2014
Download Radio Show The 16 March show featured the second half of a conversation with Tania Lewis, a biologist at Glacier Bay National Park. She was in town to give … Read more
Changing Weather
March 16, 2014
Today’s weather was getting to be like people sometimes refer to as herring weather. Perhaps more strictly we would have needed to see more rain in the mix, as today … Read more
Frozen Earth
March 16, 2011
Over the past couple of weeks, illness, family, work, and house have to varying degrees made it difficult for me to keep up with my intention to post daily. It’s … Read more
Chromophyton (Golden Glow Mystery Revisited)
March 16, 2011
Over three years ago, I reported on a “Golden Glow Mystery” that was puzzling me. My brother and I had been hiking along Mosquito Cove Trail and I noticed a … Read more
16 March Photos: Hiking in the Snow
March 16, 2007
Daily Observations
March 16, 2007
I managed to get out a couple of different times today. This morning I went a ways up from Herring Cove toward Beaver Lake before turning around due to snow, … Read more
Piper Island
March 16, 2003
The trip to Piper Island was a little shorter than planned due to the weather forecast, although I did have a good time for the night it lasted. Took some … Read more
Selection of random posts from the past 25+ years.
- SitkaBirds email List (subscribe here)
- SitkaBirds List is an e-mail list for birding around Sitka. It serves as to share photos and ask questions about birds or birding in Sitka. Also to notify others of sightings that may be unusual or of interest. If you are interested, please subscribe here. There is also a Sitka Birds Facebook Group (while both are active, the Facebook group has more active participants).
- Sitka Natural History Seminar Series
- To be notified of upcoming talks in the series, you can (subscribe here) to receive the announcements
- The Birds of Sitka, Alaska by J. Dan Webster.
- A comprehensive summary of published historical records (including looks at museum specimens) for the Sitka area.
- Species Checklists for Southeast Alaska (links below are currently only intermittently active, I have some work to do on that site)
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- Birds
- Mammals
- Vascular Plants
- Bryophytes
- Lichens (incomplete)
- Pre-2007 Photojournal
- Photos and journal entries from 1998-2006 (on a different site – I eventually intend to migrate entries to this one)
- Sitka Trails (on another site)
- A trail guide I am working on for trails on the Sitka Road system. It was on (or just off of) many of these trails where I took many of the photos seen here. I started redoing it in early 2024, but haven’t completed the remodel.
THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION TO COME HOME SOON! CLASS OF ’94 KARI NILES (BLANKENSHIP)
This is an amazing effort, already well underway! As a botanist/naturalist, I naturally went straight to the plant page. Two hemlocks! You are so lucky. Thanks for the great photos and site!
Thanks for the great site. Was referred to by Marge Ward and Marlys Tedin (my aunt). I’m a displaced native (not a blood native, just born there) Now living in Chicago. Your site really tugs my strings to get back there for an extended period of time. Keep it up. Your photography is really coming along! Hard to take a bad shot around that area, if you are “in it” as much as you are. Keep hiking and sending pics. I’ll be there soon!
I had a friend send me some of the sound clips you have made. Wonderful! Do you have a mailing list in which you send out info from time to time? if so, please put me on it! great work! pat
An eastern kingbird: St. Lazaria Island, 2 July 2010…. made forays from its foraging perch in a lone mature Sitka spruce on a slope otherwise dominated by rye grass and salmonberry.
Thank you for posting all this photos, and keeping updated your quest of knowledge and beauty. I feel like walking with you on this wild path, day by day, you who wander, in this distant country. Magic of internet.
Up In Pelican…Have had a Short-eared Owl around, and a small flock of
Lapland Longspurs. Don’t see them often !
Thanks for the report from Pelican – nice to hear what’s going on in some of the less populated areas of the region!
Dear Naturalist,
Do yoy know of a database containing observations of all kinds of species (but certainly mammals and birds are of utmost interest) in the Sitka area? (or perhaps all of southeast Alaska).
I’m writing from Denmark. I once visited Sitka, it was a brief stay, but I hope to return next spring.
Best regards Mads Kusk
Mads – check out Southeast Alaska Natural History Wiki – there are other sources that have a bit more depth for some things, but that’s probably the best single source for what you’re looking for.
Thanks for all your hard work on this site. I have you in my RSS feed and read every post!
Thanks Rab – I appreciate your interest and encouragement!
Thank you for identifying my many plants on iNaturalist. I had no service for 10 days so just took pictures to upload later. The plant life in Yakutat is quite different from the plant life is south Texas. I was however pleasantly surprised to find a number or plants that were native to both.