It was nice to see the fresh snow on all the mountain peaks today. There’s something about fresh snow that is deep enough to smooth out the roughness a bit. Lit by sunlight and backed by blue skies, it’s a striking image, and one we’ve not seen that much this winter.

The gulls seem to have really taken to the ice on Swan Lake. I didn’t try to count carefully, but I’m guessing there were getting to be close to 1000 loafing there. It’s just a short trip over to the Channel where most of their feeding is probably taking place right now.

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Herring spawning was taking place at Sage Beach. Connor joined the gulls in trying to take advantage of the opportunity, and managed to come home with several fish.

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Herring spawning activity brought birds and Connor to Sage Rock in hopes of catching some fish.

Herring spawn turns the water pale and results in foam being pushed up on the rocky shore.

The Pyramids rise behind Crescent Bay where gulls obscure the view of fishing boats in town for the herring fishery.

When fish get near the surface, gulls quickly fly in to try and get a meal before the fish dive down again.

Herring weather is the name given to spring days when sun and squalls move through with snow, rain, and hail. Here a squal is obscuring the Pyramids, though not Mt. Kincaid.

Connor's catch of herring. He will freeze them to be used as bait for halibut when his grandpa visits later in the year.

Connor's catch of herring. He will freeze them to be used as bait for halibut when his grandpa visits later in the year.

Time of sit: 7:45-8:05pm

The neighbors appeared to be having a get together, as there were 7 or 8 additional cars parked along the drive during my sit. However, they were all inside and the neighborhood was quiet. There seemed to be little or no breeze, and while I could hear some birds, they were all in the distance. The only close sounds I heard were the rhythmic dripping of water from the roof where the remains of last night’s couple inches of snow were continuing to melt.

In the distance I heard Varied Thrush both northwest as well as to the south and southeast. What robins I heard seemed to be northwest quite some distance away, and at one point I also heard a Song Sparrow singing from that way. Any gulls that might have been down near the entrance to the park were quiet, but I could hear gulls from downtown. About mid-way through my sit something flushed many gulls off the buildings downtown where they like to hangout, and I saw them flying southeast toward the park.

I’m not sure why it was so quiet around the neighborhood proper this evening, but shortly after I went back inside I did hear a robin singing in the backyard. It seems plausible that it was the same robin I listened to last night.

Time of sit: 7:45-8:10pm

The sun had set shortly before I began my sit on the front step. Skies had cleared a bit after overcast conditions earlier, so there was still plenty of light left in the day. It started out fairly quiet around he neighborhood, though I could hear the gulls going at it down along the beach – I think they were still finding herring to feed on (the first spawn had started down there this morning). I was tempted to walk down and take a look, but decided to maintain my sit instead.

Wind was very light. I could see smoke from the neighbor’s woodstove drifting north, then later east, but none of the tree branches were moving. Temperatures were cool, but not cold, and I could strongly smell the scent of yellow cedar from Connor’s cedar bark materials still sitting on the porch.

About half way into my sit, a robin started calling. At first I had trouble placing it’s location as I was confused by the sound barrier of the house and the echoing calls. After a short time it moved a little bit and I realized it was north of my position (behind the house relative to me) – in a similar location where I heard my first robin singing of the spring last Saturday evening. Prior to singing the robin let out a few explosive bursts of chirps. When it finally got into singing, the song felt a bit aggressive/belligerent to me. Short, almost angry sounding phrases, with brief breaks in between. Perhaps this is the normal style of song for robins, but I don’t remember hearing them sound like this before, so I guess I’ll try to pay more attention as spring moves on. After a few minutes of singing, the robin was less constantly vocalizing, but still every so often would shout out another explosive set of chirps – this continued even after I went inside.

I don’t remember hearing any nearby song birds prior to the robin calling, but once it started, a Song Sparrow that seems to live in the cedar hedge across the drive (just south of west from my porch) made a few chirps. It almost seemed as though it could have been in response to the robin’s comments. A little later, shortly before I went inside, a couple of different times I heard a bird fluttering in the dense branches of that hedge followed by a bird popping out and flying a short loop back to the hedge accompanied by some chirping calls that might have seemed a little annoyed. It made me think there was probably more than one bird in there, and they were getting agitated about sleeping arrangements or something.

There was also a Pacific Wren that sang a couple of songs at widely spaced intervals, but it was down the hill to the southwest. I suppose it’s possible that it sang partially in response to hearing the robin sing, but I don’t really know.

This time of year gulls start showing up in larger numbers. Many loaf around Swan Lake, accepting hand outs from people there to feed the ducks. It’s been a cool March so far, and the lake remains mostly frozen – concentrating what birds are there to the open area of freshwater at the inflow from Wrinkleneck Creek.

Photos from some time spent down at Sage Beach today.

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Gulls loaf on Sage Rock with the snow-covered Pyramids in the background.

Rowan found this Sharpnose(?) Sculpin in a tidepool on Sage Beach and asked me to photograph it for her.

The long-line season opens in March. Fish deliveries to the processing plants start soon after, attracting gulls that have started gathering for herring season to the slurry of waste that is pumped into the Channel.

Today ended up being a bit more full than I planned, as it took longer to get stuff ready for my dad’s arrival in town this evening. I was able to walk over to the bridge after class and catch the sunset, which was nice. Temperatures were cooler today, but the forecast is for even colder tonight and tomorrow. Winds were minor on the ground, though I noticed the wind turbine going at a moderate pace, so there was apparently at least some breeze aloft (strangely, I don’t recall noticing it much when I was upon the bridge). I took additional note of the patterns of snow on the trees covering the mountains and hills around town. I plan to write a post about my observations later this week.

On my walk I saw a Red-breasted Merganser in the Channel. Their were lots of them in the bays south of town during the Christmas Bird Count, but for some reason they’ve been mostly absent along the road system this winter. It was also interesting that I noticed the smell of seaweed and whatever else goes into the mix to create the fairly distinct low tide smell. (Interesting because I hadn’t noticed it yesterday when I was trying to pay more attention.) Several gulls seemed to be taking advantage of the low water levels to try and find food along the shoreline. I didn’t have enough time to watch and see if they were finding any success. I imagine at other times of year, they wouldn’t even bother, but from now until the herring run is probably the most difficult time of the year for them food-wise.

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Low angle light illuminates the snow covered Sisters and Mt. Verstovia.

Vitskari Rocks can be seen along the horizon.

View to the Southeast from O'Connell Bridge.

Herring were spawning under O’Connell bridge today and I grabbed some photos on my way over. Later this evening I was out by Pioneer Park and took some pictures of gulls gathered out there for the spawning that took place along those shores.

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A juvenile gull tries for scraps from a feeding Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris). Observed from Sea Mart parking lot.

Early in January I noticed a Sea Otter feeding in the kelp patch right off the Sea Mart Parking lot. The juvenile gull pictured here followed it around pretty closely, presumably hoping to grab a scrap or two from what the otter was eating. Unfortunately, the light and distance were such that I could not make out what the otter was eating, but I imagine it was some sort of echinoderm or mollusc. While I was watching, it didn’t appear that the gull managed to get anything and it eventually drifted away from the otter.

A juvenile gull tries for scraps from a feeding Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris). Observed from Sea Mart parking lot.

Mystery Call: This is almost certainly a gull. I am not sure which species, though. My best guess would be a Mew Gull or maybe a Thayer’s Gull. I do not know what it was doing flying over at 00:57 during a relatively calm period before the wind and rain kicked up again. Download Mystery Call

Birds in the Storm: The small song birds don’t have the luxury of waiting out hard weather. This short clip is of kinglets or chickadees calls that can be heard over rain and wind. Recorded at 08:26. Download Birds in the Storm

Gulls: The gulls have been quite vocal. I’m pretty sure these are about 1/8 mile or more away over on Indian River, where they are feeding on the spawned out salmon. Download Gulls

Golden-crowned Kinglet Calls: I believe the high frequency calls are from Golden-crowned Kinglets. The primary calls are in the 7-9khz range, but there’s also a higher frequency call in the 8-10khz range that I think is also from the same bird. Download Golden-crowned Kinglet Calls

Winter Wren Calls: I’m pretty sure this is a Winter Wren calling, and I believe they are alarm calls. Download Winter Wren Calls

American Robin Calls and Song: I was interested to hear this robin calling in the morning. There’s a bit of quieter singing and then some alarming at the end. I think it might be a couple of birds, but I’m not sure. Download American Robin Calls and Song

Winter Wren Calls: I think these Winter Wren calls might be an alarm, but it doesn’t seem too worked up. Download Winter Wren Calls

Ravens Calling: The Ravens seem to start calling a little before sunrise. In this recording, it sounds like there are at least two, with one of them flying over the backyard while calling. Download Ravens Calling

Sparrow: I think this is a Song Sparrow, but I’m not positive. It’s only a single call note. Download Sparrow

High Calls: The high frequency calls in this recording are most likely some combination of Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, and/or Chestnut-backed Chickadee. I’m not confident in my ability to distinguish them consistently yet. Throughout the recording in the background gulls can be heard down on Indian River. There are some other birds that also show up in the background. Download High Calls

Unidentified Gull (Larus sp) observed at McDonalds on 19 February 2008.

This gull is another mixed bag of characters.

Once again, I had difficulty getting photos of this bird with other individuals of more obvious identity. Unfortunately, I was also unable to get a straight profile shot. That said, my impression was that the size of this bird seemed consistent with what I consider normal for Thayer’s Gulls. It seemed pretty small to me for a Glaucous-winged Gull.

Despite the apparently small size, I probably would have figured it was a Glaucous-winged Gull due to the gray wing-tips, since, as a relative new-comer to the challenges of gull identification, I tend to privilege that easy-to-see field-mark over others (though perhaps I shouldn’t). However, I’ve never seen an otherwise obvious Glaucous-winged Gull with pale eyes. After looking in Gulls of the Americas, I see that up to 1% of Glaucous-winged Gulls can have paler eyes, but the example given there has eyes that are nowhere near as pale this gull’s. I thought Kumlien’s Gull might be a possibility, but they seem quite a bit paler overall, from what I can tell.

I saw a similar gull last year (look at the last gull in the entry) and thought it was probably a Glaucous-winged Gull, but now I’m even less sure. Still, I can’t think of any reasonable hybrid combination that might result in this particular blend of characters.

Any help with this identification is certainly appreciated.

Unidentified Gull (Larus sp) observed at McDonalds on 19 February 2008.

Mid-February seems to bring the arrival of mystery gull season. I’m not sure if it’s just an impression, or actually true in practice, but it seems like around this time more large gulls show up around town where they are easy to observe. For them, it’s the lean time of year, and the food available around town certainly plays a role in the gathering. Once the herring really move in during late March or early April, they are very abundant, though not always as easy to observe closely, and gradually numbers thin out a bit as spring heads into summer.

I recently took pictures of three different gulls which are giving me a little identification trouble. I also realized that I have some photos of gulls from last year around this time that I have yet to get conclusively identified. Rather than cram them all into one post, I think I’ll let this be the start of a series of mystery gull posts.

I think this may be a hybrid gull. My best guess at this point is Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull. Observed 17 February 2007 at Swan Lake.

I took this picture last February at Swan Lake. Currently, my best guess is that this is a hybrid gull, possibly Glaucous-winged x American Herring Gull, or a somewhat odd (to my eyes) Thayer’s Gull.

I eliminate pure Glaucous-winged Gull because of the very dark on the primaries. I eliminate pure Herring Gull due to the dark eyes and not-black on the primaries.

I think this may be a hybrid gull. My best guess at this point is Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull. Observed 17 February 2007 at Swan Lake.

I’m not sure that I can really eliminate Thayer’s Gull, though neither am I convinced it is a Thayer’s Gull. This may be due primarily to my inadequate understanding of the range of variation in Thayer’s Gulls, however. The orbital ring of this bird seems to be almost a mix of yellow and pink, suggesting the possibility of a hybrid, as Thayer’s Gulls should have a pink to pinkish-purple orbital ring. This bird also seems to be a little bit bulky for a Thayer’s Gull, though unfortunately I neglected to take a picture that included other, more easily identified, gulls for comparison. There is a skirt, which Thayer’s Gulls can show, but it’s more typical of Glaucous-winged Gulls. Also, the dark on the wing-tips seems a bit light for most Thayer’s Gulls. If there are other characters I am neglecting to consider that would help with the identification of this gull, I would be interested in learning about them.

I think this may be a hybrid Glaucous-winged x American Herring Gull, but it may be a pure Glaucous-winged Gull. Observed 17 February at Swan Lake.

I’ve recently been listening to a set of recordings of Jon Young where he talks a lot about nature awareness and tracking. They’re pretty interesting and I suppose a kind of inspiring.

As a result, I have been trying to work on some of the skills like fox walking and wide angle vision, so the last couple of times down through the park, I’ve been trying to focus on spending a good chunk of the time doing these. As an aside, I think it’s funny that Connor usually says I go too fast, but when I was fox walking with him, he wondered why I was going so slow. He did not want to go this evening, which was probably alright, as I was heading out only an hour or so before sunset (and his bedtime).

I had seen a couple of strange shorebirds flying from in front of the Visitor’s Center, and I was kind of hoping they were out on the tide flats at the far end of the park. I had fox walked a little bit on the visitor center flats, then walked in the more typical fashion on the trail to get out to the beach at the battle site. From the battlesite toward the river, I fox walked along the flats. There were many gulls scattered along the flats, though most of the gull noise was coming from the river. I caught the motion of a small bird and recognized an American Pipit. I also saw several Savannah Sparrows working the seaweed washed up on the upper part of the beach. It was a calm evening, a little on the cool side. I was getting near the former river channel, and starting up toward the forest where I would go back on to the trail.

As I was walking, I felt the need to sit. Since I am not really used to doing it consistently, fox walking is a little tiring, but the feeling was a little more than that, as normally I would just start walking in the regular fashion. I don’t remember the full stream of thought, but I do remember thinking “… but first I need to sit down for a bit.” As I considered likely places, I first considered a rock to sit on, then saw a log. On approach to the log, I felt like I should sit facing the woods. This was a little strange, as there was really very little for me to see because the log was right at the upper part of the beach, and the trees were not far at all, but I sat this way anyway. As I was sitting, I wondered if maybe something like a grouse or an owl would show up in the trees that I could see in front of me.

I had only been sitting a minute or two when I felt through my entire body the sound of rushing air over wings as a fast moving bird streaked from the direction of the river very close to my head and out over the flats. My heart was pounding as I quickly turned in the direction it had gone. Many gulls had taken flight, and I saw this guided missile of a bird hit a gull and cause it to falter. I don’t remember whether I saw the markings of a Northern Goshawk on it’s quick loop back toward the gull still staggering in flight, or when it grabbed the gull directly and brought it to the ground. Once on the ground, the gull made a few feeble flaps, then lay still.

This caused quite a commotion on the flats with all the gulls taking flight. For several minutes many gulls circled over the kill site, with the goshawk now plucking body feathers from its prey. I resolved to stay where I was, at least until the gulls moved on, as it almost seemed like they were paying respects to their companion who had fallen. Slowly they thinned out and the tideflat, on which there had previously been several hundred gulls, was completely empty. However, around the corner just a short distance from the silent flats, I could hear the sounds of the gulls in the river carrying on as normal.

I got the sense that it would be okay if I walked down the beach a little bit to get a better look at the goshawk. In particular there was a certain log that I saw. Initially my impression was with the closer (to me) of the branches off that log, but I pushed on to the main body of the log, and just as I sat down, the goshawk took off. I felt bad about this, as it seemed as if I had gone too far. I remained seated and resolved to sit, not take any pictures, nor use my binoculars to watch the hawk, so as not to disturb it. After a couple of loops around, the hawk settled back on the beach a short distance from its prey. It seemed to consider my presence carefully before it made the short flight over to the gull and resumed plucking body feathers.

One of the things that Jon Young mentions repeatedly in the recordings is that an important part of awareness and human interaction with the natural world is thankfulness. Thankfulness is not something I feel especially good at, but I was definitely working on feeling thankful for this experience. I was feeling thankful to the gull, the goshawk, and whatever it was that got me to sit down when and where I did. It occured to me that perhaps it would be appropriate to say thank you in the language of this place, but I don’t know much about the Tlingit traditions for saying thank you, except that ‘Gunalcheesh’ (which I may not have spelled correctly) means thank you. I think that if/when the opportunity arises, I will ask someone if there are other terms for thank you in contexts like this one.

A very light rain was falling as the darkness really started to settle. The sudden sound of wind whistling in the wings of ducks as they dodged and weaved directly overhead in their rapid descent toward the river mouth was a little bit startling in the context of the quite tide flat. I think the goshawk was startled at least once by them as well. Several flights of ducks flew in, and I could hear the quacking of Mallards out at the river mouth. Still, the gulls in the river were calling, and the goshawk was working on its meal. As it became darker, it suddenly occured to me that the gulls at the river were now silent. I had the impression that they all stopped at the same time, but I suspect it was not quite so sudden as it seemed to me.

Now it was getting dark enough that I could only barely see the light colored feathers of the gull against the dark rocks of the beach, but no real detail. Occasionally I could see the goshawk move, when its pale underparts showed, or when it moved the gull’s wing. Originally I had planned to go look at the killsite when the hawk left, and perhaps collecting some feathers. However, after sitting and watching the goshawk eat for awhile, that seemed to not be a good idea. I kind of felt like by disturbing the goshawk, I had forfeited my right to do some investigation that might have otherwise been okay. As I had resolved to myself to sit until the goshawk was done, and it had gotten so dark that I could not really see the goshawk anymore, I began to wonder how I would know when it was okay to go. In the end, I heard the strong rapid wingbeats as the goshawk flew toward the river. I waited a few moments and then began slowly walking through the dark toward the entrance to the forest.

The next morning I returned to the park with Connor. Connor was very excited when he heard about the goshawk and the gull. He was hoping that we might get to see it happen again. I told him that was unlikely, but we could probably find the gull’s remains. He seemed just as excited by that prospect. There had been a high tide between the time the gull was killed and when we were down at the beach, and I was not sure what would happen to the remains. It had apparently washed up with the tide, as we found it partially covered in a large pile of seaweed that has been accumulating at the high tide line.

The goshawk had eaten the body, the upper part of the wings, and the neck. The innards seemed to be gone (whether they were actually eaten by the goshawk or something else, I don’t know), with one exception. I’m not sure what organ it was, but perhaps someone else will recognize it. It looked pretty meaty, so I am not sure why it was left uneaten. The outer wing feathers were still intact, and I could see that the gull had been regrowing several feathers on each wing. It looked to me like a Herring Gull, or possibly a Thayer’s Gull. The eye was not the bright yellow of Herring Gulls, but I thought that it might have darkened in death. Another thing I noticed is the normally pink legs had lost most of their color and were now more of a dull gray.

After looking the gull over and taking a few pictures, I was feeling a little sad as a witness to this death, so I sat a little distance on the beach to reflect about the experience a bit. Connor was still very interested, so I let him stay and keep looking at it. Eventually he covered it up with seaweed and we went down the beach. However, after I stopped to look at some other things, he decided to go back and look at the gull again. Each time we have gone to the park since then, he’s wanted to look for the gull’s body, but we have not seen it again.

Gull Remains

What organs are left uneaten? The liver or lungs, maybe?