Warmer (into upper 30s) and less windy today, but precipitation still fell mostly as snow.
This afternoon I walked a loop to Indian River and along the cross trail back to Baranof Street.
I felt motivated in part by a desire to document coho salmon for the year. Connor said he saw a couple in holes up Indian River trail while he was up there today. I was able to see three or four swimming in the deeper part of the river just before where the flume splits off.
Light was poor, and they were deep in the swirly water, so the photos were not good. It do count them as documented, however.
I saw two Hooded Mergansers in Kalkae Pond. I consider it likely these are the same two Connor saw at Swan Lake earlier in the week.
They retreated to a covered edge of the pond when I stopped, so I couldn’t observe what they had been doing. However, when I first saw them, one was in the middle of the iced slush surface and then dove back down. I noticed several holes in the icy surface, which I suspect were made by one of the mergansers surfacing.
Along the cross trail proper, I did not notice any birds.
In open areas along the trail I saw as much as two or three inches of snow. In forested areas, much less snow made it to the ground. Under denser canopies, the ground was bare.
I crossed paths with at least nine other people while I was out, and saw tracks of many others. These included someone on a bicycle and another on cross country skis.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
