Clear skies. Freezing overnight temperatures rising to 40F this afternoon. Light to moderate winds.
A text message from LP letting me know the Hooded Mergansers were at the peninsula prompted me to walk down to the lake around mid morning.
I didn’t spot them at first, but they noticed me. The male popped his head up from the rock he was resting on to get a better look.
I paused, but they weren’t comfortable with my presence and went into the water. They started diving and feeding near the shoreline, gradually moving further down the lake while I was there.
After sitting on the bench and watching long enough to be convinced the mergansers weren’t likely to come back, I turned my attention to lichens on one of the trees on the peninsula.
Eventually I moved on. I wanted to revisit something I had observed while doing a winter big day back in 2020. I called it a species of lichen at the time, though I was not sure about my ID. Someone else put a different name on it today. Looking again, I did think my ID was incorrect, though I’m also uncertain about the new name. If it is correct, it’s apparently a non-lichenized fungi, though it’s doing a good job of showing up like a lichen.
I was able to refind it on a mountain ash. Several patches were present. I checked two other mountain ashes just down the street and was not able to find any others.
I did not want to cut into the bark, but was able to find some growing on bark that was already coming off. I collected a bit and will try to look at the spores.
I met up with Kitty and we walked from Whale Park down to the larger pullout. A chilly breeze blew in our faces on the way out, but was light enough that I did not notice it much on the way back.
They’ve trimmed back the vegetation that has grown up between the path and the embankment down to the water. With the larger vegetation cut away, I found some of the strawberry plants I had planted a few years ago. A few had started spreading (which is what I hoped they would do). Perhaps in a few more years there will be the possibility of harvesting a decent amount of strawberries there.
Despite (or maybe because of) the pleasant weather, turnout was quite sparse at ultimate. I spent twenty minutes there by myself. Two others showed up, but decided not to stick around to throw.
On the way home, I remembered that this time of year the sun lines up with St. Michael’s as its dropping low. I was able to get them in line from the SJ campus, but not really a clean shot. I’ve come to realize these sort of sun alignment shots are fun (for me, at least) as a novelty, but the photos aren’t really all that aesthetically compelling visually. The sun is just too bright. The moon would be nicer to get aligned, but given all the obstacles cluttering the view, it’s probably not worth the effort to chase it.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
