Mostly cloudy with a bit of sun this morning, becoming overcast with some rain this afternoon.
High tide was this morning. I thought I might want to visit Magic Island or elsewhere along the shoreline. Instead of heading out when I was tempted by the nice light this morning, I waited until after lunch.
On the plus side, I made good progress on processing photos and uploading observation from last July. On the other hand, the weather this afternoon was a bit less inspiring.
When I made it out the road, several cars were parked at the south Halibut Point Rec lot. The tide was also still too high to get to Magic Island without getting my feet wet. Instead of stopping, I went all the way out to Starrigavan.
From Harbor Point (or maybe a little before), it appeared there was some lingering slush on the road. This surprised me a bit, but I later learned there had been something like freezing rain at Starrigavan early in the day. I’m not sure if it was actual freezing rain, or a rain shower followed by clearing which allowed the water on the ground to freeze.
Possibly Frullania
I visited the small high water island at Old Sitka. My primary interest there was epiphytic mosses and lichens. There are plenty on some of the branches. I brought one dead branch home with me. It will take a bit of processing to get photos and decide what to put in collection bags for possible further work.
If you're feeling ambitious, see if you can find the Rock Sandpiper in the flock of Surfbirds
On my way back in, I did stop at the rec to see if there might be some Surfbirds. I didn’t notice any on the beach, but did happen to catch a flock flying by. Reviewing my photos carefully, I found one Rock Sandpiper in the mix. Both were new birds for the year.
I ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole with Atriplex this evening. I may ultimately write up a full post on what I currently understand, and the questions that I have. For now, I just wrote an extended comment on an observation I added from last July.
The coot at Swan Lake hasn’t been reported since Sunday. I haven’t seen it on the peninsula where it’s normally been when the lake is mostly frozen. Perhaps enough has opened up along the margins that is spending time elsewhere?
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
