An Aspiring Naturalist Learns His Place
Low clouds with periodic rain. After a call this morning I went out to Blue Lake road with the intention of going up to Heart Lake. Multiple cars in the Heart Lake parking lot prompted me to drive up to the end of the road first. There were some bright yellow spots in the alpine … Read more
It rained overnight, but for most of the day it was merely overcast. I made a trip to Heart Lake late this afternoon. There were a couple plants (including the variegated horsetail pictured above) on my hit list for the year that grow along the lower section of the road, so I parked along Sawmill … Read more
Overcast for much of the day. Partial clearing for a time in the afternoon, though it never got beyond mostly cloudy before the clouds closed back in. A little bit of rain early this evening, with steady rain starting later. I had tentatively planned to get up a mountain today. Looking out to see marine … Read more
Download Radio Show The August 29th show featured a conversation with John Chapman, a marine biologist who focuses on marine invertebrates and invasive biology. In town surveying blue mud shrimp (Upogebia pugettensis) to look for presence of an invasive parasitic isopod, Orthione griffenis. Thought to have been brought across the Pacific from Asian in ballast … Read more
I am someone who is interested in knowing and keeping track of what shows up in Sitka. Gulls can be abundant around town during some times of year. Thousands often loaf along the tide flats, work the salmon streams, or pick scraps from the fishing industry. The vast majority of gulls we see here are … Read more
Download Radio Show The August 15th show featured a conversation with Elizabeth Graham, entomologist with the Forest Service working out of the Southeast Field Office in Juneau. We spoke about the current western black-headed budworm defoliator outbreak affecting many places in Southeast Alaska, and how it fits into a pattern of prior outbreaks in the … Read more