Weather: When I got up this morning around 6:15 (more on that later) it appeared to be partly cloudy. The forecast had been for cloudy with rain, but the rain held off. Temperatures were in the low 30s this morning, with highs in the upper 50s. There was not much wind. Although it was overcast for most of the day, there was a nice sunset this evening between 6:30 and 7pm.
Birds: Northern Flickers were active throughout the morning. I did not hear them as frequently in the afternoon,
but I did hear at least one calling on a few occasions. Highlights included a 6:10 am wake up, and three flickers together in the trees outside the house.
At various times throughout the day, I noticed flocks of gulls flying northwest (along the shore). I am not sure where they were going.
I did not spend too much time outside today, but I did see an eagle collect a branch from the neighbor’s cottonwood tree.
At sunset, Connor and I went for a short walk. We heard a winter wren singing behind our house. I am uncertain whether it was in the woods behind our house toward family housing or across the road by Westwood Trail. I there was a Song Sparrow singing down by the harbor. Robins and starlings could be heard settling down in the spruce tree in front of Allen Auditorium. Connor spotted two robins getting a ‘bedtime snack’ by NPH.
Crows and ravens were audible throughout the day, though I did not investigate further to see what they were doing.
I heard what sounded like kinglets while I spent a few minutes by the spruce tree, though I was unable to observe them visually.
The juncos were making some trilling songs this morning.
Flora: The moss I looked at today still looks pretty dry. If it does not rain in the next day or so, I may try adding a little water to some moss. We got some rain the night before last, but I am uncertain how much. I would like to see if some of the moss has been ‘killed’ by the cold weather or if it is still just not wet enough to look ‘normal’ (as opposed to shriveled up and dry).
I noticed a clubmoss growing by the spruce tree yesterday. I had not noticed that before.
Today the sapsucker holes were pretty much filled in with sap. I imagine temperature has something to do with how fast the sap can plug a hole, but it has taken about a week in this case. I will continue to watch to see how long it takes the sap to turn white.
Rhubarb is starting to come up in the old garden. It’s been up for awhile in the back yard (some even started up before the last cold snap).
Other Observations: As Connor and I started on our walk there was a deer near the maitenance sheds along the road behind Rasmusson Student Center. Some students noticed it and watched it for a minute. When Connor and I went to take a closer look it continued down the road, apparently uninterested in being observed. It had a strange gait that was faster than a walk, but not a run. I say strange because of the way the deer looked as it was doing it. It appeared almost like it was waddling (or doing the four-legged version of it). I am not sure if this is typical or not, as usually I either see deer walking or running/bounding.
The whole family went down and gathered some seaweed today for the raspberries and rhubarb. The tides are going to be getting higher over the next few days, so I figured it was a good time to collect what got pushed up during the last hightides before it has a chance to get washed away and/or replaced by newly washed ashore seaweed. What we collected from Sage beach was actually mostly eel grass. It was fairly dry and consequently did not weigh very much. That was a distinct advantage as far as I was concerned, as it allowed me to carry four buckets at a time back up to the house (and I only took four loads).