Clear and cool, gusty winds in Silver Bay. Temperatures in the 30s.
It’s continued to be a bit warmer than the forecast has been calling for. I’m not sure what’s keeping the temperatures warmer. I’m curious, but not disappointed.
I was up well before sunrise. I had some things to take care of before heading out to the industrial park for our 7:30am start.
The day was reasonably pleasant in the cove. Winds were variable, though overall windier than yesterday. Williwaws were kicking up from time to time down towards Bear Cove.
At Sawmill Cove the wind was blowing into the cove. Based on the williwaws, it appeared to be blowing out at Medvejie. The wind can do strange things with all the topography in the area.
I checked out the finger of fill that separates Sawmill Creek from the inner part of Sawmill Cove. It was a better location for observing, so we shifted to there.
I had a couple of nice looks at a Common Loon swimming close to the shoreline.
Walking out, I noticed some diggings and initially thought maybe river otters were scratching around. Walking back out later, I saw a pile of alder cones at the base of some salmonberries. I realized it was actually squirrel. With coarse fill rock supporting mostly salmonberry bushes and Sitka alder, it’s not the habitat I would typically associate with squirrels. I imagine the spaces between rocks in the fill provide reasonable shelter for it, and it seems to be doing okay with the alder cones.
After the watch was done, there was just enough time to go out Green Lake road to check a possible alternate observing location. It does appear to be suitable, though I don’t know if we’ll end up using it.
On the way back to my car, I noticed Connor had texted me about a Tundra Swan at Starrigavan. Despite being past sunset, I made the drive out. The light was faint, but large white birds do still show up. I was able to see one swan distinctly smaller than the two it was near. Had Connor not observed the Tundra Swan previously, I would definitely have wanted better confirmation, but I was satisfied in this case. (Hopefully it will stick around long enough for me to get a better daylight look at it.)
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
