As yet unidentified small moss. Collected March 19th along Blue Lake Road
Continuing mostly cloudy with occasional rain (on the light side). A bit of a sunny break this afternoon.
When I was a child, there used to be a flea market sort of thing called “Winter’s End” which I think took place around the first weekend in spring. I remember thinking it was still pretty cold out for winter to be over. It certainly didn’t look like spring as I understood it. As an adult I realize that meteorological spring and astronomical spring are not the same thing. We’re officially in spring based on daylight, still very much in transition weather-wise.
Herring Gull with others on the ramp at the Channel
I checked the channel this afternoon. Plenty of gulls were around, but I didn’t spot anything unusual. Connor later told me the Slaty-backed Gull had been at Swan Lake for a little while, at least.
Driving out to Sawmill Creek, didn’t see many birds on the water. A couple of murres out in the distance and a dozen or two gulls near Silver Bay Seafoods.
Back in my driveway, I saw a bird flying over. It took me a moment to register it was a Northern Goshawk. I wasn’t quick enough to hop out of the car and get my camera before it disappeared behind trees and houses. It had been flying from the direction of Geodetic Way and toward Market Center.
As yet unidentified - perhaps something in Dicranaceae or a related family. Found on an alder tree in my yard
I arrived home just as the sun emerged, and spent some time poking around in the yard. I noticed one of the dead alders has a lot of fungus fruiting on it. I suspect it will come down before long. I think it may be good to give it an assist in a direction that’s more helpful.
Some pine trees are also tipping. A platform Connor built between them some years ago is probably part of the issue with at least one or two of the trees. I’m not sure which (if any) tree is the initiator of the tip, but a couple of them are not very symmetrical. In the end, they may all need to come down.
One of the characters that helps distinguish F. bryoides from other species is the differentiated leaf margin and the central bit that meets it at the tip.
This evening I spent some time with collections. I made it through a couple of the ones from Saturday. Both were challenging in part due to small size. However, there also was a fair amount of sediment/dirt that came with them which I didn’t find easy to clean off.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
