Mostly clear to partly cloudy. Light to moderate winds depending on location. Frosty overnight, with temperatures into the 40s today.
I heard a robin calling this morning. It was closer to the house than the one I heard yesterday afternoon. Later in the day I saw a few robins just down the street. I’m reasonably confident they’re a first wave of north-bound migrants.
With sufficient cell service for calls, I stayed home this morning and did some processing of photos while listening.
This afternoon I went out on the Mt. Edgecumbe High School senior science boat trip. I had been invited to talk about birds along the way.
From Crescent Harbor we went to Eastern Channel, than out towards the sound. We spent some time there, though not especially far out. A whale or two was in the area. They spent a long time under during the dives, and covered a fair distance, so it was not easy to watch.
While we were there waiting for the whale, one of the students spotted a flock of swans flying north. I’m guessing Trumpeters, but I couldn’t say for sure.
Birds had been fairly sparse to this point.
While out on the sound, the sun became partially blocked by clouds. Without the full sunlight, the breeze was enough for it to feel quite chilly.
We headed north, then came in near Black Rock. I saw a flock of Surfbirds resting as we came around it (the tide was up). We could hear Black Oystercatchers calling, and then saw them first on the rock, then flying around.
From this point we saw plenty of scoters (almost all White-winged Scoters) and cormorants. I started seeing Marbled Murrelets and also noticed a handful lone Pigeon Guillemots scattered along the way up towards Crow Pass.
We went between Gagarin and Crow Island, then turned north.
A mother and calf Humpback Whale were in the area just north of Crow Island. Unlike the earlier whale(s), these did not dive deep and stay under for long.
When I first saw them, I was confused. I hadn’t seen them clear enough to realize there were two. Travelling close together when they came up it sometimes looked like an extra long whale.
Unlike much of the trip to this point, there was very little wind here. We were also in a place with fuller sunlight, so it felt much warmer than it had earlier in the trip.
We returned back through the channel. The north end was quiet for birds (as it has been when I’ve looked there recently). We did see plenty of Long-tailed Ducks in their usual spot.
I didn’t see any loons on this trip.
I noticed the robins mentioned above on my walk home from the harbor.
I made one last outing. A brief walk to Swan Lake. I didn’t stick around since someone was already there at the peninsula.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
