Bird Watching on a Gray March Day

Cloudy with minor breaks in the afternoon and evening. Cooler temperatures. Snow mixed in with rain this morning.

This morning I recorded conversation with Jim Baichtal for my next radio show. Before getting to the conversation for the show (about Sitka Black-tailed Deer), I got some updates on Kruzof geology. It sounds like he and Britta will be here in June to do some field work.

I went out for birds this afternoon.

I saw a pair of Wood Ducks at Swan Lake (and later heard from Connor the crane had been there at least briefly).

From the kelp patch pullout I saw a Pigeon Guillemot. It did not come too close to shore, but slowly worked its way south while I was there.

This time of year seems to be the best for observing Pigeon Guillemots from along the road system

I’m still waiting to see my first Red-necked Grebe, perhaps there will be one on Saturday’s food web cruise

Occasionally a gull has much more vibrant color in their bill and/or legs than the other gulls

Gulls were less abundant in the channel again. Perhaps there have been fewer deliveries coming in the past couple of days? Or maybe they’re moving out and about for herring?

Lower numbers of gulls may be why there were a few more Long-tailed Ducks in the central part of the channel.

When the gulls show up to the channel en masse, the Long-tailed Ducks tend to vacate. With gull numbers dropping, I've seen more in the centeral part of the channel again

There was a break in the clouds as the sun was setting. I expected it was a limited break. I got busy working on stuff (with a couple of busy days coming up) and didn’t look out again until much later.

At nearly 11pm I happened to look at Facebook and see a bunch of aurora pictures posted from this evening. However, when I looked out it become cloudy. I guess the break had been brief, just not as brief as I expected. Based on the photos I saw, the show as pretty intense while it was visible.