Partly cloudy to mostly clear. Frosty this morning with temperatures into the low 40s later in the day.
I had a call I needed to be home for this morning, and wasn’t ambitious enough to get out before it.
I did manage to bag one of the smaller sets of collections that are waiting to be processed.
I did spend the afternoon out and about.
As I was getting ready to go, I noticed a Varied Thrush sitting very still in the feeder. It appeared the yard was otherwise empty of birds (it’s generally been quite busy lately). I suspected a raptor was somewhere around or had recently flown through, at least.
I stepped outside to take a look, and the thrush flew off. I noticed a redpoll perched in a tree and a Eurasian Collared-dove on another perch. They had also been sitting quite still. The dove flew, but the redpoll remained. After a couple minutes, I saw birds starting to move about a bit in the brush pile and a junco start to feed on the ground.
Upon leaving, my first destination wsa Silver Bay. If the dock hadn’t been so busy, I would have watched the cove for a bit, but instead I went straight on to Herring Cove.
I wanted to revisit a lichen that had been tentatively identified as something pretty unusual.
I hoped to find a chunk of rock with the lichen on it that was already fractured so I could break off a chunk. I refound the lichen without any problem, and did ultimately find a chunk that was fractured. (Had I not I would have returned later with a chisel and hammer.)
While poking about, I noticed at least a couple other lichens, a moss, and a liverwort that photographed and collected as well.
I stopped at another, much wetter, rock face did some more observing and collecting.
Things seemed quiet at the kelp patch pullout. While sitting there, I noticed a caterpillar on my jacket. I imagine I picked it up while looking at mosses at Herring Cove. I’m not sure, but I suspect it’s a Campaea perlata.
In service to my trails page update, I walked the short loop of Indian River trail. Starting at Indian River trailhead, up to the cross trail connector, and back down Yaw Drive.
The river channel is changing. It seems to want to move closer to the trail. Some trees had been undercut and fell over. Given the trails and homes in the area, I wonder if some effort will be made to shore up the bank or shift it back into one of the more central channels (where most of the flow used to run).
Clear skies inspired me to catch sunset at the bridge.
The sun dropped behind Vitskari Island, well north of the solstice setting point.
Off the top of my head, I don’t remember seeing the sun distort in quite the way it was today. It started to take on a bit of a mushroom/lightbulb shape as it approached the horizon.
As it slid below the horizon, the top part fragmented. There was some green that showed up in the fragments, but not full on green flashes style.
I’ve mostly had only minor annoyance with my camera shutdown issues. However, trying to catch the last light of the sun as it disappeared brought more frustration with the shut down and restart pattern.
The colors of the sky post sunset caught my attention. Especially the cyan band bridging the warmer colors near the horizon, and the deeper blue higher in the sky. Pink clouds offered a nice complement to the blues.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
