So far this year, I’ve not been inspired to get up especially early. As the daylight has increased, each day the sun is higher by the time I manage to rouse myself sometime after 8am.
Despite the warmer sun and shorter amounts of darkness, it’s still been pretty chilly overnight on these clear nights. Overnight lows were in the 20s. While the sun was rapidly melting off the frost, the air still felt cold.
Later this afternoon, I was a little surprised to still see ice in a container with water, despite being on the south side of my house (though it was a partially shaded spot – and the ice was low enough in the container that it didn’t take direct sun), so the air must not have warmed too much.
Much of the day was spent on calls, but I was able to walk the seawalk this morning. There were quite a few crocus blooming, but the only wildflowers I’ve seen so far are the early blueberries (Vaccinium ovalifolium). I think there are salmonberries blooming in the area, though I’ve not run into any yet.
I heard a couple of reports of steelhead in Indian River the past couple of days, and there have been a couple of male Eurasian Wigeons seen at the park (today) and at Swan Lake (on Sunday).
Near the base of O’Connell Bridge I could hear three different Song Sparrows singing from the realty parking lot over to Castle Hill. It makes me curious how many territories are along the Sitka waterfront.
Along Crescent Harbor there were a couple of ravens on the ground, with one appearing to possibly be preening the other’s head. Not far away, two Song Sparrows were calling from small trees about 10 feet apart – they didn’t seem especially alarmed, but I wondered if it might have been due to the ravens.
