Clear skies. Temperatures into the lower 50s, light winds.
Connor and I went for a boat ride today.
We dropped in at Starrigavan and did a big loop over to Port Krestof, around to St. Lazaria, and back via Vitskari Rocks and the islands between the channel and Starrigavan.
At Port Krestof we saw mostly diving ducks. It’s possible (maybe likely) dabbling ducks were up along the streams, but we didn’t get out of the boat.
We spent time with three or more Gray Whales at Point Brown. At least one was working very close to the shore.
Inner Point was our only shore stop. We saw more shorebirds there than anywhere.
While Connor worked for photos of winter plumage Dunlin, I walked over to get some branches of the mystery willow I first saw last fall.
We passed inside of Low Island, continuing out beyond Shoals Point to St. Lazaria. Out here the swell was not steep away from shore, but was much larger than it had been inside of Low Island. I could see the waves crashing along the shorelines, but it didn’t cause us any significant concern in the boat.
St. Lazaria had few birds around (which is what I expected). My sense is they show up in bigger numbers around mid-May or so.
Bird numbers began to increase as we approached Vitskari. Common Murres and Rhinoceros Auklets on the water, with cormorants and gulls on the rocks.
We made sure to check as many cormorants as we could manage. Our hope was to spot a Brandt’s Cormorant. One was seen in springs across several years starting in 2012. I suspect it was ths same individual, with my 2012 sighting of it as a juvenile being the first. The oldest reported age is apparently 18 years, so I assume most don’t live nearly so long. If I’m correct about it being the same individual, it woudl be 13 years old by now.
We kept seeing Harbor Porpoises surfacing north of Black Rock. They seemed to be surfacing in a general area without any particular pattern (in terms of location). I suggested Connor kill the engine to let us drift.
Some porpoises did come quite close to us. It’s difficult to judget distance on the water, but I think they were within 10 feet at their closest. Visibility in the water was very poor, so I didn’t see them underwater, but I could see the swirls of water pushed up by their fins right behind and beside the boat.
Flocks of mostly White-winged Scoters were scattered out off south Kruzof and around Vitskari Islands. Starting between Black Rock and the more inner islands, we saw large flocks of Surf Scoters. I’m guessing well into the thousands for total numbers. We scanned for Black Scoters, but did not spot any.
On a cluster of islets off the west side of Kasiana hundreds of Harlequin Ducks rested on the rocks and in the water. It’s a place I had seen many before (though I don’t remember if I made note of it at the time). It seems to be a popular hangout for Harlequins this time of year. I wonder what makes it so appealing to them.
Connor opted to go out around the outside of Bieli Rocks and back to Starrigavan for the final stretch.
All in we covered over 56 miles in 5 hours.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
