Overcast with occasional showers, mostly this evening. Temperatures in the 40s. Light to moderate winds.
Today I was less ambitious than the past few days, but still had enough going on that I didn’t make much progress catching up on photos, collections, and such from over the weekend.
A message from Paul about two Arctic Terns on a log in Eastern Channel prompted me to go out to Whale Park this morning. I didn’t have high hopes of spotting them in the distance, but I figured it was worth a try.
While I was out there, I received a message from DK about Hudsonian Godwits at the park, though they had already flown off. I had considered stopping at Eagle Way on the way out to Whale Park. Perhaps if I had, I would have seen the godwits. Hard to say, but I can say I didn’t see them when I stopped on my return.
This afternoon I went with Paul and Matt to the golf course to look for frogs. We had success. None called while we were there, but we saw two or three (and Paul found some eggs).
Connor wanted to take advantage of the not quite as wet and windy day to make another trip over to Kruzof.
There was more wind than on our Sunday trip and the waves were more widespread, but not as big. Even so, with the wind and the shape of the waves, it was a wet ride for me. I certainly had a higher intake of salt than normal.
We anchored at the end of escape cape beach closest to Port Krestof (where the shoreline was most conducive to avoid getting stranded by the falling tide).
Northern Shovelers have arrived in greater numbers, and we saw plenty of other dabblers as well, though perhaps not as many as last time
Good numbers of shorebirds were continuing there, including 20+ Marbled Godwits.
We cut our looking a bit short due to two bears that came out on the beach. I think one of them heard me talking, as it ran back into the woods.
The other started to follow, then thought better of it. I’m not sure how aware of us it was. It seemed inclined to eat on the herring eggs (presumably) that were washed up on shore.
We scanned what we could, then walked back to the boat.
The tide was conducive for anchoring and walking part of the Port Krestof flats.
A large flock of Greater White-fronted Geese was mostly spread out along the vicinity of the river (at least until they took off).
We saw more shorebirds here, with peep numbers in particular higher than we had seen before.
Connor counted 49 Marbled Godwits in Port Krestof. We weren’t sure they were all different than the ones at Point Brown, so we checked there again briefly on the way back. After conifrming over 20 were still there, we concluded over 70 were present in the area. I think the previous local high count was 55 (which I saw at Low Island a few years ago).
On our return to Point Brown we saw four bears (we didn’t get off the boat this time). Those plus others seen around Port Krestof made for a total of 9 this evening.
Heading back included some adventure. Between Point Brown and Guide Island we were heading into decent sized waves (at least from the perspective Connor’s small boat).
He couldn’t keep the boat on step in the conditions. In part because it was rough, but before long we also realized quite a bit of water was coming into the back. Due to the low freeboard and the angle we were taking with the waves as we cut through them, water was skimming over and into the boat.
Connor decided to pull the plug, and fortunately we were going fast enough for water to drain. As it emptied, the boat sped up, and we started to get into calmer conditions behind Guide Island. From there, we didn’t have any additional issues.
So some lessons were available, and hopefully learned and remembered, on this trip.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
