I walked around Totem Park this morning with the intention of getting some photos of the huckleberry leaves that were still persisting. This afternoon I went on an Allen Marine trip for Mt. Edgecumbe seniors that was focused on recording sea birds and dive times of whales. It was an exercise intended to give students a sense of the sort of data collected by marine biologists. The weather was not as nice (by a long shot) as it had been on Thursday, when I had been invited to go on a couple of similar trips for middle school science students (unfortunately my day was already filled up with other activities). However, we were able to get good looks at birds in the channel as well as see some whales out in Eastern Channel. I even got the splash of a breaching whale.
I was interested to see some Common Murres that were still/already transitioning into/out of winter plumage. I’m beginning to wonder if there is any point during the winter when none are in transition.
