On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place
This week the daylight seems to have caught me by surprise. I guess it’s already a month past equinox, but for some reason I hadn’t adjusted to the reality of the sun setting after 8pm. I’ve been following my patterns without thinking about it much, but since they’re a bit keyed to the amount of … Read more
I took a walk around Totem Park this morning to check on flowers and shorebirds. New for the season was Fern-leaf Goldthread (Coptis asplenifolia) blooming in the spot where they grow behind the maintenance area. It had been a few days since I last checked there, so they probably came up a couple of days … Read more
I was asked to go with the SAIL senior hiking group to look for and talk about birds. We collectively decided to head out to Starrigavan and look around out there. It ended up being a nice walk from the Old Sitka boat launch out on to the beach on the bayside at Starrigavan and … Read more
Shorebirds have been showing up over the past few days, but today was the first time I got good looks at any that aren’t typically seen over wintering in the area. There was a single Black-bellied Plover (though 3 were reported yesterday, I didn’t get a chance to see them), a couple of Dunlin, and … Read more
I visited the park again this morning to see about getting photos of the hybrid duck in better light. The tide was out quite a ways, but many ducks were feeding along the shoreline. I walked out on the flats, and despite trying to stay relatively far from the water, I noticed the ducks swim … Read more
A couple of days ago I got a second hand report of a hybrid Northern Pintail x Mallard down at Totem Park. I did not find it while I was down there then, but while taking a short walk this evening, though I would check again. In the fading light, I was able to spot … Read more