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Muskeg Wander on a Wet and Windy Day

Rainy and windy through much of the daylight hours.

Seas at the buoy were up to 28ft.

I didn’t make it outside until this afternoon. As it turned out, the weather dipped in intensity. I had dressed for rain and wind, but saw almost no wind and little rain.

I walked to Baranof Street Muskeg and then Swan Lake. I felt motivated by a couple of late season muskeg mushrooms I thought I might still have a chance of finding.


I did find Hygrophorus siccipes. I did not see the pink Hygrophorus erubescens, which seems to be less common.

I found and ate a few scattered cranberries (both lowbush and lingonberries). According to my dad, it was not a good year for them. He only got 1-2 quarts while covering a fair bit of territority during his visit earlier in the month.


While in the muskeg, I made observations of some common lichens and mosses. It’s easy to forget what I’ve already observed this year. It turned out at least three for new in iNaturalist for the year. (There may be other observations in my backlog of photos to get uploaded, however.)


Ice remained in the muskeg puddles, but I didn’t see any on Swan Lake.

After my walk, I went for a drive to check out a couple of places and stop by the grocery store. Rain came back again in force. Looking at the radar imagery, I saw what I experienced was just part of a long band of heavy showers.

By the time ultimate rolled around this evening, winds were calm. We had occasional drizzle, but overall I found it pleasant.


I took down UV light for winter season, but am still leaving porch light on. I saw several winter crane flies flying around at it when I checked before bed.

I made it to 1000 species for the year (with over 1100 unique taxa) with today’s observations and posting a few from the backlog. I’m hoping to finish up the last of September’s photojournal entries (just three remain) in next day or two.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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