January 4th
Bohemian Waxwings
January 4, 2004
This afternoon I saw a flock of Bohemian Waxwings on the hillside of the Nazarene Church. I probably would not have noticed them, but Connor was interested in something and my brother mentioned that it might be the birds. They were eating the berries from he mountain ash trees that grow there. They stayed there
A Preliminary Look at Marge and Tedin’s Data
January 4, 2007
Introduction: As many of the people reading this are probably not local to the Sitka area, it is probably worth a brief explanation of who they are. Marge Ward and Marlys Tedin (often referred to as Marge and Tedin) are two long time Sitka residents who became interested in birding when they were middle-aged. They
4 January Photos: Trip to Kamenoi Point Beach
January 4, 2008
Scott Harris invited Connor, Rowan, and I to accompany his family over to Kruzof Island to spend some time walking Kamenoi Point Beach.
Fungus and Murre
January 4, 2012
Rowan was impressed with the size of this fungus The kids and I took a short walk through Totem Park hoping to pick up a Red-breasted Sapsucker for count week, but were unsuccessful in that regard. We did hear a Red-tailed Hawk call, so that more than made up for the miss on the sapsucker.
Christmas Bird Count
January 4, 2014
On this year’s Christmas Bird Count I had selected 3 or 4 routes covering neighborhoods in the central area of town. I walked for nearly 7 hours and covered 13 miles (though only a little over 12 of that was for counting purposes). Rowan joined me for parts of my day, while Connor had been
Raven Radio Show #70 – Naomi Bargmann
January 4, 2015
Download Radio Show The 4 January show featured a conversation with Naomi Bargmann. We talked about some of the seabird monitoring field work she did this past summer. If you have questions or observations you want to share, please feel free to leave a comment here or on the page I’ve set up for that
Christmas Bird Count
January 4, 2015
Today was Christmas Bird Count. Weather was chilly (20s) and fortunately not as breezy as forecast, at least not where I was (though it looked like it was blowing pretty good out of Silver Bay). I didn’t see anything too unusual, the best birds were a Savannah Sparrow and a couple of American Tree Sparrows,
Frosty
January 4, 2017
The Estuary Life Trail out at Starrigavan can be treacherously slippery during cold weather, but the relatively high humidity and lack of direct sunlight (the valley bottom and most of the estuary is in the shade of Harbor Mountain this time of year) make ideal conditions for delicate frost formations to develop. During my time
New Year Birds
January 4, 2019
Clear conditions persisted overnight into today, resulting in a very frosty morning. I took some time today to go look for more of the unusual birds that have stuck around into the new year. I arrived at the location the Rustic Bunting has been frequenting, and was a little surprised to see it moments after
iNaturalist 2019 in Summary and Notes from the Day
January 4, 2020
Late yesterday, I finished getting 2019 photos into iNaturalist (since I also finished up 2018 in a timely fashion, I am left with only 2016 and 2017 to complete, and then I’ll be up to date). It was my busiest year in terms of iNaturalist observations so far. As iNaturalist has improved, and I’ve gotten
Raven’s Eye
January 4, 2023
Overcast with occasional light rain. Temperatures in the low 40s. Snow dropped a bit further on the mountains. Picnic Rock had fresh snow on it. Hoping to pick up at least a couple of new birds for the year, I decided to walk down to the park. Robins had eluded me so far, and at
Starrigavan Revisited
January 4, 2025
Overcast. Light to moderate winds. Temperatures in the 30s. I went back out to Starrigavan today, again hoping to observe the Swamp Sparrow. Today I noticed a clear boundary line of frost in the trees which I took to represent the extent of where direct sun reached into the valley. I heard a call as