Late Winter Snow

This entry is part 21 of 24 in the series 2012 Photojournal

I spent much of the day in bed feeling groggy and tired from a head cold. Snow was falling this morning when I first looked and continued until late afternoon or early evening. I took these pictures of nearly 10 inches of snow accumulated on the deck railing around 2pm. Hopefully this late season snow doesn’t stick around for too long, but there have been years when we’ve had significant snow well into April.

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Northern Goshawk

This entry is part 20 of 24 in the series 2012 Photojournal

Last week I got a call from someone who had seen a Northern Goshawk near Sitka Community Hospital. He was alerted when he heard his chickens sounding alarmed, and found an immature goshawk (though he wasn’t sure what it was at the time) on top of the pen – which was covered with chainlink fencing. From there it flew off to a tree where he was able to get a good look at it.

I’m guessing this juvenile that I photographed today is the same bird. I first saw it flying across Park Street and down Etolin. I didn’t get a great look, but it seemed too large for the Sharp-shinned Hawks which have been frequenting the neighborhood this winter. It landed in a tree where I couldn’t see it. A raven made a dive at it and it flew to another nearby tree where I was able to get a better look (and these photos). Ravens made another couple of half-hearted passes at it before it took off and appeared to head toward the ground behind a house with chickens and ducks. I checked it out, but when I approached toward where the chicken yard is, the goshawk flew away toward the west along Biorka Street and I lost sight of it.

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Signs of Spring

Wintery weather has returned for much of the past of week or so. Snow fell early this week and changed to cold rain for the last couple of days (today accompanied by a stiff SE wind reminiscent of a fall blow). Despite such conditions (which make spring seem so far away), there have been some … Read more