Sitka Nature Homepage

Highlights of Recent Photo Uploads


Photojournal

The summer of 1999 was the first time I returned to Sitka after my parents had moved south. I had started working on a website the previous school year, and had purchased my first digital camera that spring. I had dabbled with photography and journaling my outdoor adventures with analog tools (film and notebooks) previously. Now converted to digital, with family to keep up to date, I started my photojournal. It now has grown to over 3000 posts spanning 25 years, with more to come.

Recent Updates (includes older previously unpublished entries – go to the Photojournal page for only recent entries):

Crow Dropping Food

Sandy Beach Visit and Spring Snow Showers

Occasional snow showers with considerable sun between. Light winds, temperatures in the upper 30s and low 40s. Today’s snow showers had actual flakes rather …
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Sculpted Clouds

Windy Weather

Overcast and windy. Temperatures in the 50s with scattered rain and later heavier showers. The wind didn’t pick up until later this morning, but …
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Snow on Bear Mountain

Signs of Late Winter and Early Spring

Mostly cloudy with showers. Primarily rain, but graupel mixing in at times. Temperatures around 40F and light to moderate winds. Snow level (where it …
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Lichen Mosaic

Lichens and Early Spring Growth

Overcast with temperatures in the hanging around 40F. Light to moderate winds. Snow levels continued to be down to 2000 feet or below. There …
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Back Home

Mostly cloudy to overcast. Periods of rain (showers moving through) and temperatures in the low 40s with light to moderate winds. Snow levels were …
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Mt. Rainier

A Day In Seattle

Partly cloudy to mostly sunny in Seattle. Calm winds, pleasant temperatures. Not much time outside today, but I did listen to birds and make …
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Radio Show/Podcast

The Sitka Nature Show airs on Raven Radio alternate Sundays 1:30-2:30pm, and recordings are available here sometime after (not infrequently after a long delay). Find the most recently uploaded shows below. I also have a full archive.

Sitka Nature Show #336 – Alice and Chuck Johnstone (encore)

Download Radio Show The March 9th show featured a conversation with Alice and Chuck Johnstone. Originally recorded in 2012, Alice and Chuck had lived …
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Sitka Nature Show #335 – Adam Haberski (encore)

Download Radio Show The February 23rd show featured a conversation with Adam Haberski. Originally recorded last February when he was working to complete his …
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Herring Egg Salad

Sitka Nature Show #334 – Mary Goddard

Featuring a conversation with Mary Goddard, Sitka-based artist, entrepreneur and plant enthusiast. We talked about art, nature, and food, and how culture and relationship weaves through all of them.
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Sitka Nature Show #333 – Connor Goff

Featuring a conversation with Connor Goff. We talked about bird highlights from the past year, and the adventures he’s been getting up to. These include hiking, boating, and diving in the Sitka area.
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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

Starrigavan Temperatures

March 16, 2009

Last year I had the idea that it might be interesting to place temperature loggers at various locations around the Sitka area in order to get a better sense of … Read more

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)
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.

13 thoughts on “Sitka Nature Homepage”

  1. 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!

  2. 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!

  3. 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

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. Up In Pelican…Have had a Short-eared Owl around, and a small flock of
    Lapland Longspurs. Don’t see them often !

  7. 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

  8. 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.

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