The needles turning orange are a sign of infection. This is probably caused by Dothistroma septosporum
Overcast with rain later in the day.
I didn’t get out much. This morning I had a call, and this afternoon I worked to figure out what I needed to fulfill a request for a larger print than I’ve been typically making.
By the time I was ready to go, I didn’t have much time before I needed to meet with some visiting whale biologists to record a conversation.
I stopped to return a book I had borrowed from K. Hanson. He was in the process of harvesting the last of his carrots. He said he got about 80 pounds from his one bed (which looked like it might have been 8’x12′ or so).
The conversation went well, but by the time I made it out of the station, light had started to fade.
I stopped by the channel. Common Mergansers had gathered up in some numbers, but there were few gulls. I had seen more earlier on my way to the station, but only scanned the briefly.
I went by Baranof Street to check the pines. On a closer look, especially checking the older needles, I saw there were fruiting bodies of a fungus.
The older, now dead, needles show more of the black fruiting boadies of the fungual pathogen
I looked at the forest service webpage featuring common forest insects and diseases in Alaska. From there I followed the link to the information about Dothistroma needle blight, which I think is causing the discolored needles.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
