Continuing the pattern of recent days, I ventured out after lunch to see what I could find. Today’s hoped for species were Bohemian Waxwings and a White-throated Sparrow.
I decided to walk up the Baranof Street connector to the Cross Trail to the Phearson Street trailhead, check out the neighborhoods there, and then head downtown to catch the sunset.
It was quiet, but quite scenic along the Baranof Street connector. I heard few, if any, birds, but was taken by the patterns of frost, both small and large. Even during this mid-winter time, there is enough heat in the sun to melt the frost wherever there is direct light. However, there are plenty of places with persistent shade, including some larger hollows, where everything was covered in a coat of long crystals of hoar frost.
The crystals themselves were also quite striking to me. Though I have taken quite a few pictures, I still don’t feel like I have managed to really capture their cold, delicate beauty. It’s something I really appreciate about this time of year in these conditions.
Upon reaching Phearson Street, I started hearing more birds as I walked along the neighborhood streets. When I made it to the house where Karen J. has reported seeing a White-throated Sparrow lately, I saw quite a few juncos and chickadees flying around. At first I did not see the White-throated Sparrow, but as I was just about to leave, I heard the different sounding chip that I recognized as likely being from the White-throated Sparrow. I was able to get a decent look at it and grab a photo. Thanks to Karen for reporting it.
Walking back towards town, I noticed other juncos feeding in yards along the way. I imagine they’re a little more active in town this year than in the past couple, as we’re seeing more wintry conditions. The forecast is for this cooler weather to persist well into next week. So far it has been calm and not especially cold, but that could change over the next couple of days.
In addition to the sparrow, I also recorded observations in iNaturalist of a lichen and Labrador Tea. It occurred to me that an interesting side project to help keep this early season more interesting (especially for plants) would be to try and document all the ever/wintergreen plants that we have around here. When I mentioned this to Kitty (who is also participating in the big year project), she suggested expanding the idea to include the deciduous shrubs as well. I liked the sound of that, and then thought why not include all the plants observable in winter, including the evergreen and deciduous shrubs, wintergreen herbs, and also the decaying remains of last year’s plants that persist into winter.
My iNaturalist Observations for today (3 new species)
Big Year Project Progress: 37 observations, 31 species, 4 observers
