We took my mom over to the airport this morning for her flight back home. While there Melissa talked me into renting a car. She wanted to drive it and I wanted to go up Harbor Mountain. The weather looked like it was holding off, so I decided to make the trip from Harbor to Gavan.
Weather: Mostly cloudy this morning with clouds increasing and some rain in the afternoon and evening. Winds increasing, with strong winds through much of the afternoon before it calmed down.
Birds: There were lots of Red-necked Phalaropes in the channel. I took some pictures of a few that were close to the shore near the Mt. Edgecumbe classroom building.
There was a raptor, maybe a merlin, but I’m not sure, that flew out across the road near the long term parking at the airport. It looked like it tried to catch something in the air then flew back to the trees. I was driving by and by the time I got turned around, it was long gone.
There were quite a few birds up on Harbor Mountain, but they were staying down in the bushes. I don’t know if that was because of how much wind there was. I did not see any raptors up there. I did see several Fox Sparrows, warblers, and I think a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow or two. Also there were ravens, juncos, and chickadees, plus one bird I did not recognize.
Plants: There were a few plants still blooming up in the alpine.
The blueberry crop up there seemed to be pretty good. I didn’t have any trouble eating my fill of berries as I walked along.