This morning someone sent an e-mail to the Sitka Birds e-mail list about a Snow Bunting seen at Totem Park yesterday. I used that as an excuse to take a quick walk through the park before going to the airport to pick up the speaker for tonight’s bird seminar on Marbled Murrelets. This afternoon although it looked a little breezy out on the water, I decided to go for a short paddle. It was pretty calm right off Sage Beach, but I could see the whitecaps out to the Southeast off of Jamestown Bay. I decided to head that direction and nose out into the waves a little bit just to get a little taste of those conditions. I did not need to wait long since, as I was nearing the southeast end of the park tidalflats, the wind brought the waves to me. A sustained bit of wind was blowing almost at my face and I discovered that it was quite a bit more difficult to manuever. With a little effort I got turned around and headed back. Even then, paddling was a little more challenging as the waves coming from behind me tended to cause the kayak to veer off course. Before too long the breeze abated and I was back in calm water. All in all, I think it was a good first experience with some wind and waves.
Weather: With clear skies persisting overnight and through the day, it got down in the 20s last night and was chilly and breezy today.
Birds: On my walk through the park, I saw several Song Sparrows foraging along the beach, but no Snow Bunting. I also saw a couple of Black Scoters in with the flock of Surf Scoters off the south beach of the park.
The talk on Marbled Murrelets this evening was very interesting. I may write up a separate entry on some of the things I learned at a later time.