On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place
A couple of days ago was only the fourth time I’ve seen a Baird’s Sandpiper, and it was the first time I saw more than one. The tide was on its way up, though still out quite far (it had been a minus tide maybe an hour before) as I made my way from the … Read more
“Rain showers, heavy at times” is a fairly common phrase in Sitka area weather forecasts, especially as we move into the fall season. There were a couple of times today when the rain came down so hard, the pounding on the roof made it easy to imagine the proverbial buckets being poured out from above. … Read more
A cloudy day punctuated with some showers at times. High temperatures are still holding up in the upper 50s and lower 60s, but I don’t expect that to last much longer. For the last couple of weeks it’s been getting dark noticeably earlier, and it seems like once a week or so I’m surprised by … Read more
Slender Bog Orchid (Platanthera stricta) along Beaver Lake Trail One of several fairly common orchids around Sitka, I have seen the Slender Bog Orchid (Platanthera stricta) in a variety of habitats, from low elevation forests, open meadows and fens, and up to the alpine. With relatively small green flowers, it’s not an especially showy plant … Read more
Today was Connor’s 13th birthday and also the day my grandpa would have turned 97 (if I’m remembering correctly that he was born in 1917 Update: he was born in 1918, so he would have been 96). I wanted to follow up on some ground dogwood (Cornus sp) leaf mine observations, so we went out … Read more
I am not so good at identifying fungi, but earth tongues seem relatively easy to identify to family (Geoglossaceae) and maybe even genus, but after that things get quite a bit more challenging. These were seen in a patch of muskeg that is a little different then most of what I see around here. Perhaps … Read more