Herring Season

The herring fleet has been on two hour notice for the last couple of days. The herring sac roe fishery is often not more than a couple of hours. From first light, spotters are flying small aircraft looking for the large schools of herring. Seiners go out to various place in order to make test … Read more

Bird Notes

I woke up to the winter wrens singing before 6am. The birds are definitely getting more vocal. Connor and I went for a walk and made it down to the beach before 7am. While we were there, I got some video of a kingfisher as it was fishing off of the pilings near the hatchery. … Read more

Thunderstorms

Yesterday afternoon and evening a couple of thunderstorms passed near town. I was in class when I heard a rumble that sounded like thunder, but thunder and lightning are fairly uncommon around Sitka, so I thought maybe it had been a jet taking off. After a few moments, I saw a flash and realized that … Read more

Bird Song

I heard a particular bird song several times this morning. I did not know the species of bird, so this evening I listened to my Bird Songs of Alaska CDs to see if I could find the song. It sounded like one of three different birds, dark-eyed junco, chipping sparrow or orange-crowned warbler. The orange-crowned … Read more

Piper Island

The trip to Piper Island was a little shorter than planned due to the weather forecast, although I did have a good time for the night it lasted. Took some pictures of various animal tracks in the snow. Will probably write a couple of entries about it later.

Piper Island Cabin

I’m headed to Piper Island Cabin for the weekend. It’s about 30 miles northwest of Sitka in Fish Bay. Based on the weather reports I have seen lately, there should be a fair bit more snow there than there is here. Hopefully I will have a chance to do a little hiking and/or exploration.