Mostly sunny and breezy, with winds out of the north. Temperatures in the lower to mid-30s.
I didn’t get out until this afternoon. I checked each end of the road. It was breezy enough for white caps on both Silver Bay and out the other end of the road, but I didn’t see any signs of particularly strong gusts.
I was not sure what to do for my observations today. I considered settling for some distant bird photos. I was still uncertain when I decided to walk down to the beach at Starrigavan.
I thought the little corner there on the bayside by the main road might be in the sun and out of the wind enough to feel pleasant. Perhaps earlier in the day it would have, but the sun had dropped low enough there wasn’t enough heat for me to notice it much.
I did take a closer look at the rock outcrop there I’ve generally only given a passing glance to. I found stuff, some familiar, others not, that I wouldn’t necessarily have guessed was there.
In particular a patch of what I think is Tetraphis pelucida. It’s much less common than its relative Tetraphis geniculata. This would be only the second time I’ve seen it (that I know of). I’m not 100% sure I am right about the ID, though.
Aulacomnium androgynum is a distinctive small moss which I’ve previously only found growing on stranded drift logs, so I was a little surprised to see a couple small patches of it growing in crevices of the rock outcrop.
A bank of clouds on the horizon meant I wouldn’t be chasing a green flash. Even had the horizon been clear, I’m not sure I would have been able to see the sun setting anyway. It may have been behind Makhnati Island. Within the next week or so it will be far enough north that it’s setting behind Kruzof (at least from the perspective of the O’Connell Bridge).
I stopped at Sandy Beach. Initially I thought I would take pictures of snow blowing off the volcano. I had noticed it earlier when I was driving out the road, but didn’t see it when I stopped.
The light was nice enough, I got out to take some pictures. I tried to get photos showing the spray blowing off the waves as they crested. I didn’t have as much success with that as I would have liked. I didn’t have too many chances, since the waves big enough to crest were sporadic, and the sun disappeared behind the clouds not long after I arrived.
A sound caught my attention while was on the beach. At first it registered as kind of an electronic buzzing/trilling. I thought it might be coming from the house just north of the surfing area. I decided to check closer and realized it was coming from the trees. It seemed to move around a bit, but I never saw what was making the call. I did see a couple of juncos lower down, and it may be the mystery call was a junco as well. I had been considered a strange sounding Varied Thrush, but the vocal quality did have a bit of junco-resemblance. I am not confident, but I might put it at 70% that it was a junco. It would have been nice to see to conform, however.
While investigating the mystery call, I happened to notice green growth on an old burn pile. I was happy to find Funaria hygrometrica, a species that seems to specialize on burnt wood. It’s only the third time I’ve noticed it.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
