Peak 2890 fading into the clouds behind Starrigavan Estuary
Overcast, rain in the afternoon and evening. Seemed to be calmer than forecast, though a bit of a breeze out of the southwest during the latter part of my time out. Temperatures in the low 40s.
I got a message about a possible golden-plover over at the airport this morning. It flew off before any photos could be taken. It’s pretty early, and I always wonder about young and/or non-breeding plumage Black-bellied Plover as a possibility, but either way I was interested in getting out to see if the bird might have ended up on a local beach.
The high tide was around midday. At 10ft it didn’t leave a lot of beach. It was still up fairly high when I headed out around 2pm, so I visited a few other places before going to Totem Park to check the shoreline.
I started by swinging by the airport just in case. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t see it there.
I made an unplanned stop at the turnaround when I saw decent numbers of gulls on the water. There were a few dozen, but I did not see any unusual looking ones in the mix.
My next stop was Starrigavan. I parked along the side of the road and walked out towards the bridge over G̱ájaa Héen/Starrigavan Creek. I have been keeping my eyes open for the first Northern Pintail of the year (most years at least one spends the winter, but apparently not this year). There was a nice flock of Barrow’s Goldeneyes on the bay side diving for food fairly close. The water was still up high enough that much of the estuary was flooded, but I did see a few Mallards and mergansers there.
I finally got my state parks day use sticker recently, so felt comfortable parking at Halibut Point Rec and walking down there for the first time in months.
Sign post at Halibut Point Rec area
The forest has opened up a bit relative to my vague memories from my early years. Not really surprising to me given its age, but interesting to observe.
Halibut Point Rec, walked around. A couple of Mallards at the mouth of Granite Creek. Woods opening up compared to my vague memories from many years ago.
I didn’t see any birds on the beach and just a couple Mallards at the mouth of Granite Creek.
Aulacomnium androgynum has a drumstick-like spur with gemmae which is distinctive.
I did check a couple of logs for bryophytes and found some Aulacomnium androgynum with the distinctive spikes bearing gemmae. This species fairly common on beach loggs, but easy to overlook and more difficult to recognize when those are not present.
I stopped at the golf course and walked down to the pond and back. I wanted to see if there might be any robins or shorebirds, but didn’t see any. There was one person golfing, not what I expected given the marginal weather.
Driving back into town, the rain started.
I checked the weather radar before starting my walk at Totem Park. It looked like it might just be a band of rain. I decided to walk through the forest first and hope it had let up by the time I got out to the beach.
I checked for fern-leaf goldthread blooming and did not find any. I also checked Osmorhiza and didn’t see any of it blooming either.
A couple of Gadwall are still around with the Mallards, but I did not find a Northern Pintail.
Some of the hundreds of Surfbirds and Black Turntones that were foraging on the flats at Totem Park
The tide was well below its high by this time. I started hearing the shorebirds before I saw them. I did not see any plovers, but I did see hundreds of Surfbirds. Several hundred birds were in the flock, and the vast majority were Surfbirds. I saw a few Black Turnstones, and despite their smaller numbers, they were the ones I heard most as well.
Two Rock Sandpipers among a flock of Surfbirds
I looked for Rock Sandpipers and thought I saw one, but then wasn’t sure (viewing conditions weren’t great with drizzle and a breeze at my face). Unless I find one in a flock shot [Update: I did], I won’t report one. At least 5 Black Oystercatchers came in while I was there.
The rain hadn’t let up, and with the breeze and temperatures in the low 40s, my hands got quite cold before I headed back.
For some reason this tardigrade photo reminds me somewhat of a style of Asian (maybe Chinese?) illustration that I've seen but know little or nothing about
I made it through some collections this evening. Among the mosses and liverworts that were the targets, I found a tardigrade, mite, and pseudoscorpion in the mix.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
