Mostly cloudy with a bit of sun late this morning. Light winds and temperatures in the low 40s.
Snow was down on Gavan Hill along the whole ridge, perhaps to 1500 feet or so.
Tides are high this week with the full moon. This morning’s tide was due to happen shortly before 11. I drove out to Starrigavan to see it. The actual tide was running below predicted. It topped out (at the tide gauge) at 11.4ft instead of the predicted 12ft.
Though the tide was high, it wasn’t particularly impressive. It didn’t even get onto the low point of the trail along Nelson Logging Road.
I noticed something in the water that I ultimately figured out was a dead swan. It looked like a juvenile. I didn’t see any of the other swans that had been around yesterday.
This afternoon I met up with folks about the haulout project. It may start as soon as late next week.
This evening Taylor White gave a talk for the natural history seminar series. She spoke about her PhD research on abalone in Southeast Alaska, including interactions with sea otters. One result that stood out was data and modeling suggesting moderate sea otter activity is a net plus for abalone abundance. The short version is that abalone get out competed by sea urchins, and the benefits to the abalone from sea otters removing sea urchins outweigh the predation of abalone by the sea otters.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
