Heavy overcast and plenty of rain.
I checked for moths at the park this morning and found a few. More surprising to find up on the wall was a millipede. If I want to find one of these, I’ll generally turn over pieces of wood and look underneath. It’s not often I’ve seen one out in the open.
This evening I went on a three hour Allen Marine Cruise. It was one of SCS’s summer cruise series, and I was invited to talk about birds. The intention was to go out to St. Lazaria, but the weather was definitely not conducive. It would have been very uncomfortable to get out there.
Instead we went as far as Mountain Point, then cruised up the east Kruzof shoreline to the upper end of Krestof Sound, and back down Olga Strait to return to town.
There were at least a couple of small flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes (#131), but I didn’t spot any Brant (which is one I was hoping for).
Unfortunately between my time on mic, my in-need-of-repair binoculars, and the sub-optimal lighting, I didn’t have as much opportunity as I might have liked to really get a look at the birds. I didn’t even bother pulling my camera out until we were up at the end of Krestof Sound. Clouds were thinner there, and it was a bit brighter. An eagle was on shore with something, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was through binoculars. By the time I had my camera out, we had moved on.
Among other things there were Marbled Murrelets, Pigeon Guillemots, and scoters.
I noticed a couple of different spring smells today. The elderberries were blooming along the harbor, and along the Etolin street extension, I could smell a cottonwood that was growing in a yard. One of the advantages of humid weather is some smells often seem to be a bit easier to sense.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
