Sunny skies, temperatures in the 30s. Calm winds.
Despite the sunny weather, I didn’t spend too much time out and about today. I feel like I’m still needing to rest and recover from the activities (and more significantly, lack of sleep) from the past week.
The car required scraping when I drove my parents to church this morning. I was a little surprised it needed to be scraped again when I went back two hours later to pick them up.
After dropping my parents off where they were visiting friends for lunch, I continued out the road.
I spent a few minutes checking out the roadside cliffs across the road from the large pullout. Mostly they are pretty bare. I think just too dry to support much growth without any soil. In some patches where water more consistently seeps down, or there are cracks and ledges that support larger vegetation mosses and liverworts are growing.
I picked up a moss and a liverwort. I am reasonably confident that both are species I’m familiar with, but will make an effort to confirm my suspicions.
Back in town I stopped by Swan Lake. Someone was just getting out at the peninsula, so I started to go on up the street. I noticed someone I know taking pictures closer to the radio station. I didn’t quite see what, but it was enough for me to stop at the radio station to take a closer look.
It turned out a pair of Hooded Mergansers was foraging near the shore. The lighting wasn’t optimal, but I didn’t let that stop me from taking pictures. On the plus side, the direct sun and that reflected off the water felt pleasantly warm.
While there, I thought I was hearing the call notes of birds. They were coming from multiple directions, but none especially close. I eventually realized it was from the thin layer of ice that covered much of the lake.
Next stop was the channel and then the SEARHC overlook. I had some hope of seeing the Yellow-billed Loon, but didn’t find it.
The light was nice for seeing the different species of trees on Gavan Hill. I don’t remember noticing how high up cedars are growing. In some places they were growing nearly to the ridge line. It was hard to be sure, but I think they may have been the most numerous species in some areas as well.
Only a thin line of clouds were showing along the horizon. Between weather and work, it’s been quite some time since I was able to catch the sun dropping below the horizon. Its already a week past solstice, so I expected it would be setting north of 6 mile rock.
As the sun started to disappear behind the clouds, it slid past the rocks. At one point reasonably centered over the high point of the rocks, moments later it had clearly moved on.
I did capture some green/blue flash light. A small separation happened well before the sun disappeared. There was also some color along the rim as the sun disappeared behind the clouds.
I was able to catch up on initial uploads for photojournal posts. Until the last day or two, I hadn’t uploaded any since early October. I would like to figure out a better workflow for posting photojournals. I’ve done well getting them written on a daily basis for years now, but very few of them have been published.
Connor hiked up beyond Indian River falls today. He wanted to go at least part way up the Right/East Sister. He made it up there and was back in town by 3pm. He reported the snow was about 10 inches deep up there. He saw several sets of marten tracks. Up the valley further down near treeline, he saw two goats. No ptarmigan.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
