Partly cloudy early, becoming overcast. Temperatures to near 50F. Light winds becoming moderate later.
This morning’s sun inspired to get out. However, it was later in the morning before I got going, and conditions weren’t quite so promising by then.
I headed out to Starrigavan Ridge anyway, hoping for the best.
It took me an 1 hour and 40 minutes to ridge. A thin spot in clouds allowed enough sun that I could feel its warmth, but that didn’t last
I headed up the ridge. Large patches were clear of snow, especially on the south-facing parts, but I had to cross some.
The clouds seemed to drop as I headed up. I turned back when the snow became more extensive and visibility dropped. I had been thinking I might check to see if the cushion saxifrage was blooming, but that will have to wait for another day.
On my way down the ridge, I made a few observations and collections. Temperatures in the 30s with a little breeze motivated me to be quick about it. I even saw a little bit of pellet snow falling.
I took a detour by lower lake. It’s still mostly covered, with some open water around the the edge.
American Robins worked open parts of the meadow, but it is yet to green up.
Voles had clearly been active throughout the winter, but I didn’t spot any of them today.
Connor messaged me that he was off work early and planned on going out on the boat this afternoon/evening. That kept me on a steadier pace down to the car.
Heading out late this afternoon, we experienced lumpy water. It seemed more windy than the last trip (perhaps due to a more/less favorable wind direction). The waves at their largest may have been a little smaller than that time, but I got more wet this time
We walked the beach at Point Brown, but only moderate sized flock of peeps and a Whimbrel. Many Savannah Sparrows scattered in front us from the upper part of the beach, however.
Port Krestof was a different story. It was a middleling tide, and falling. Some of the flats were exposed, but not enough to connect to the rocky islet.
Looping aroud through the shallows in the boat, Connor saw enough birds that he wanted to get on shore. We found a spot with enough water to avoid getting stranded, but close enough to the shore to easily anchor.
There ended up being far more birds than we had realized from the boat. They were scattered and tending to move about (especially moving to more recently exposed parts of the flats).
We walked clockwise around the high water island and got decent looks at many birds, with good opportunities for photos of some. None were new for the year, but it was nice to get much better looks at Lesser Yellowlegs in particular than I had earlier in the year.
Though there were good numbers of geese and shorebirds, duck numbers were down from our previous visits. The full list of birds we made note of is included in my ebird checklist from the trip.
One thing we didn’t see was any golden-plovers. There haven’t been any reports of them from along the road system that I’m aware of so far this spring.
Given the wind and waves we encountered on the way over, we too the long way back, which was much calmer.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
