Today was easily the warmest day that I have experienced in Sitka so far this summer. Â I had two tours to work today, with the first landing near Pt. Brown and the second a trip south with a landing at Calligan Island.
Weather: Â Sunny and warm, with light wind.
Birds: Â I saw a flock of about 4 large shorebirds flying over Crescent Harbor around the time of our first departure. Â Between tours I saw another fly over just outside of Crescent Harbor. Â I do not know for sure what they were, but I suspect they were yellowlegs.
I saw several flocks of what I believe were Red-necked Phalaropes.
There was a black and white alcid that I think may have been an Ancient Murrelet, though I did not get a good enough look at it to be sure.
It looked like the young eagles were starting to fledge at the nest in the Kasiana Islands.
Flora: Â At Point Brown, the group I was with seemed determined to hike back in the woods, so we ended up making it back to the muskeg. Â The flowers seemed to be mostly finished where we saw, but there were a few apargidium flowers still hanging on.
At Calligan Island I noticed crow berries ripe on some of the taller rock outcrops on the beach that were covered by moss and crowberry plants.
Other Notes: Â There were a couple of sizable rafts of sea otters near Fragrant Island.
Several humpback whales were still active near Vitskari.
We watched a couple of seiners fishing for sockeye at the entrance to Redoubt Bay. Â The net we saw pulled in did not produce a large haul, but it did have quite a few fish in it.
There were several sets of deer tracks in the sand at Pt. Brown beach.