Overcast and warmer with some rain this morning, and thinning clouds this afternoon.
It got into the upper 50s today, which made it feel a bit more like summer overcast and rain, despite the snow still lingering on the mountains. (Harbor Mountain road is still closed at the second gate, and the snow depth at the sensor is still over 3ft deep.)
Winds were down a bit from yesterday around town, though I noticed the buoy was up over 10ft, so apparently the wind had kept up out there.
I headed out this morning without too much ambition, but did spend some time at Swan Lake before heading out to the kelp patch turnaround for low tide.
Nothing particularly unusual at the lake, though it was nice to see the first yellow pond lilies and bog buckbean blooming.
While there I also heard a Swainson’s Thrush (#132) and Yellow Warbler (#133) singing.
Today’s low was almost -2ft, so it seemed worth getting out to look around at least a bit.
I’ve never really spent much time on the beach at the kelp patch turnaround, so decided to turn over some rocks there and see what I could turn up.
It’s a fairly steep beach, so the low tide zone is actually kind of narrow. The rocks are somewhat large and across much of the shoreline there seem to be deeply stacked. As a result, when I moved a rock, there was often not much there expect space, with more gaps between rocks below. The rocks were fairly rounded, so I suspect they’re also prone to shifting, which might contribute to limited abundance in the cracks and crevices, but I’m not sure.
I did find a red gunnel (Pholis schultzi). I’m intending to write a post dedicated to that species soon (it was only recently discovered in Alaska through observations made on iNaturalist).
I saw several northern clingfish, a species I’ve found elsewhere, but I don’t remember seeing quite so many before (I only took pictures of one).
Walking towards some larger rocks a bit south of the turnout, I was startled when not far in front of me a river otter leapt into the water. I don’t know where it came from. Perhaps it was in the rocks, and my approach scared it, or it may have run down from the road and just happened to cross in front of me. It did spend a couple of minutes swimming near shore and seeming to check me out. I only had my little camera that I use for macro, but it was close enough that I took a picture anyway.
It’s probably worth visiting this beach again in the future, but it does seem to have less abundance and diversity than other places I visit more often.
I drove up Harbor Mountain road and stopped to check out one of the roadside muskegs not too far below the second gate. I did see fern leaf goldthread blooming, but nothing else. It’s still pretty early even at that not all that high elevation. Down the road a bit there was some blooming Alaska mountain heather.
Before picking up lunch, I also drove up Blue Lake road. The snow along the avalanche tracks has melted back somewhat, but still has a ways to go. I’m guessing there will be some still remaining into July, and perhaps even August.
This evening was ultimate at Moller field. I played barefoot much of the time, and accumulated a fair layer of black grime on my feet (which seems to be typical with these sorts of turf fields). I decided to get my feet at least somewhat cleaned off by stopping by a muskeg and walking around barefoot.
Jarvis Street seemed most accessible, and I spent a bit of time there getting photos of some of the early spring muskeg flowers.
I was a little surprised at how many cloudberry plants and flowers I saw in a couple parts. A look at the flowers made me think they’re mostly (maybe all) male plants, so not likely to be much fruit there later in the summer.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
