Mostly to partly cloudy today. Highs in the mid 40s.
Last night’s gusty winds were over by the time I was up this morning. Overnight at the buoy seas reached over 19 feet.
With calls this morning, I did not get out until after lunch.
The beginning of my outing corresponded with a break in the clouds. I enjoyed a few minutes feeling warm sun as I walked along DeGroff Street.
A breeze was blowing up Swan Lake, and clouds began to obscure the sun again.
I hoped to find the wigeons at the peninsula, but saw only Mallards and the Wood Duck on land. Scaups, Buffleheads, more Mallards, and at least one swan were on the lake in various locations.
There were plenty of midges around, and it looked like ducks might have been going after them again at the upper part of the lake.
With no wigeons and the chilly wind, I decided not to stick around long.
The remainder of my time I spent looking at epiphytes on trees in the Baranof Street Cemetery.
The pale yellow-green may be a Radula, the darker brown a Frullania -
I got pictures of a few species I recognized, and made collections of a couple liverworts I didn’t.
I noticed a patch of fern-leaf goldthread (Coptis aspleniifolia) along connector from the cemetery to the cross trail section. I briefly considered looking more closely to see if any flowers were up, but decided it was too early. After seeing an observation of flowers from southern Baranof Island show up on iNaturalist, I wished I had looked a little closer. I suspect they’re not out yet, but they might be.
I suspect bear hair, caught in the railing but will try to confirm
I noticed a tuft of hair caught in the railing to the boardwalk as I was heading out. Hairs were long and brown and about three feet or so off the ground. Although I think there are good reasons to believe it’s bear hair (including the height above the ground eliminating many dogs and any other smaller mammals, length of hair eliminating deer, and the way it was caught would have required the animal to be leaning against the rail as it walked by which seems much more likely for bear than dog), I would like to confirm that. The only other plausible option would be a large dog. I suspect it’s relatively fresh, as it still seemed relatively fluffy. I think had it been exposed to much rain, it would have become matted down (assuming no one noticed it and pulled it out like I did).
Shortly after I returned home but was still sitting outside, the clouds thickened further and some graupel began to fall. It was never more than a few bits, however.
Alaska Airlines jet on final approach to land
More rain came later. On a trip to Sea Mart, I appreciated the sight of an Alaska Airlines jet on approach in front of showers over Sitka Sound.
I didn’t make any additional progress on collections today. I rarely seem to manage to do work on too many different things in a day. Today’s focus was catching up on photojournal posts up through last weekend.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
