I was hoping today’s forecast for light winds held up, but it did not work out that way. Although it was by no means stormy, there was a bit of a swell coming in and enough wind to lift up a chop on top of that. With cool temperatures and rain, it did not turn out to be the best day for a boat ride. Originally hoping for a trip to Low Island, Kitty and I headed out in her skiff, but quickly opted for a second choice of heading towards Port Krestof upon encountering the swell near the airport. On the slow trip through the channel, we saw a late Long-tailed Duck and quite a few gulls (with one Black-legged Kittiwake).
By the time we got out in the vicinity of the Chaicheis, it was clear the breeze had picked up a bit – perhaps as part of a minor rain squall. We considered going to shore at the Chaicheis, but there did not seem like an obvious nice wind-sheltered spot to anchor, and with the generally suboptimal conditions, it seemed better to head back to land.
We did look around a bit for birds, but did not see much (Hudsonian Godwit was still at the turnaround), and stopped by Pioneer Park hoping to find the shoreline shootingstar (Dodecatheon pulchellum) blooming. I had checked it last weekend, but just a few flower buds were showing with no blooms, and I was happy to find a few of them in flower this week. This species seems to limited to on some of the rocky shores around Sitka and I think Pioneer Park might be the only place I’ve noticed it growing along the road system.
Somewhat less showy were the flowers of two different sedges also growing at the upper edge of the shoreline.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
