On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place
Juvenile Marbled Murrelet Back in January got an e-mail from Jim N., who was planning to visit Sitka on a cruise ship in August and wanted to do some birding. Other than some very regular routines, I hardly know my schedule beyond the length of time a pen’s ink will remain visible on the back … Read more
Thrushes seem to be quite fond of red elderberries (Sambucus racemosa). It does not take long for birds to strip a bush of berries, especially in late summer with many recently independent young birds as well as perhaps the starting wave of southbound migrants make use of the food resource. Recently I saw several working … Read more
We drove out the road today to check on the Swainson’s Thrush nest, but couldn’t see any birds using the nest. There were however many birds active in the brushy area adjacent to the road. Several thrushes were utilizing the ripe elderberries that were abundant on one large bush. In addition there were other smaller … Read more
There was some wind and heavy rain this morning, but things settled down later in the day. I spent some time playing frisbee early this afternoon, and at Moller Park there was only an intermittent light wind out of the southeast with light rain falling occasionally but not often. After frisbee was a trip to … Read more
While doing the breeding bird survey recently, I happened to notice a thrush land in a tree across from where I was about to start counting. It hopped around a little bit, and then settled in. It took me a moment to realize that the bird must have a nest that it was sitting in. … Read more
This morning started very early – as the only day forecast to be nice weather this week, it seemed like the best bet for getting the breeding bird survey done. The survey consists of 50 stops, each .5 miles apart. At each stop I was supposed to observe (listen/look) for 3 minutes and record all … Read more