Overcast with a little bit of rain, but not as much as I might have guessed from the forecast. Looking at the radar imagery, it appeared to be falling more heavily elsewhere in the general area. Breezy out of the southeast.

I went to Totem Park this morning around 9:30am.

The tide was falling from its early morning high, but the beach was still relatively small.

A raven calling in the forest reminded me of a time I was walking through the park with visiting Australians. They were were captivated by all the sounds a raven made from the branches overhead. It was actually very near where I heard the one today.

I decided to make a recording. I moved a couple of times following the raven as it moved from tree to tree.

I started hearing shorebirds and felt a little torn, but recorded for a little longer.

Mostly Surfbirds with some Black Turnstones

I was able to see a few Dunlin and at least one Rock Sandpiper among the hundreds of Surfbirds and Black Turnstones.

I heard a call that tugged for my attention, but I didn’t give it too much thought, sort of dismissing it as one of the gulls.

More violets are blooming, but still no sweet-cicely (Osmorhiza). I may be misremembering, but I have thought the sweet-cicely usually blooms first. Perhaps it was slowed down more by the cold than the violets. I’ve not noticed any of either that appear to have suffered freezing damage.

I headed out to Starrigavan before the tide fell too far.

I ended up seeing DK there and talking for a bit. He had just checked things out more thoroughly than I intended to, and hadn’t seen much.

I went back to the park this evening after getting my radio show ready.

I had seen report that dowitchers were there. The tide was rising and not much of the flats remained in front of visitor’s center.

This American Crow seemed pretty ornery. While I was watching it repeatedly chased shorebirds around, then chased a couple of different ducks, and finally a gull.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

A bit breezy, some rain and mid-40s. Snow level rose above 2500 ft. We probably are now past mountain snow maximum for the year (it looks like it will be too warm to snow tomorrow). Harbor Mt. maxed out around 12ft based on the sensor readings.

I had a call this morning so couldn’t get out to look for a Red-tailed Hawk that was apparently quite cooperative at Starrigavan.

Later today, I got a note about a Caspian Tern seen at Totem Park.

I had arranged to record a conversation for a future radio show later in the afternoon. I went for a relatively brief walk around the park in the time I had before needing to be there.

When I arrived, there were many hundreds of gulls scattered about on Crescent Bay. The tide was just past high, so not much beach was available. As I walked around, they started flying in to the beach.

I didn’t find the Caspian Tern.

As I’ve been noticing since the herring spawned, many ravens were out on the beach and others throughout the forest were quite vocal.

I saw my first non-Eupithecia on the walls at the park. I’ve still not set up my UV light, but have it on my agenda to do soon.

Connor saw the Purple Finch plus Pine Grosbeaks at the Pioneer Home eating the seeds from last year’s rosehips.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

[Show slideshow]

Around 2:45am today while I was out photographing a timelapse of noctilucent clouds, I heard a bird song that I did not recognize. Although I heard it sing twice. In a perhaps unrelated event, shortly afterwards, I saw a bird that gave me the impression of a shorebird (perhaps snipe-sized, but less bulky), but I’m not sure the impression is worth much since it was still pretty much dark, and I just saw a quick flash as it flew through the illumination of a street light. Now it did fly from (or at least passed by) where I had heard the song, but I at the time I didn’t think it was the same bird. It went down off the side of the road I saw it fly over, and when I walked over to look I heard an unfamiliar rasping/rattling call. This was repeated several times, and I was able to get the recording I’ve included here.

When I recorded this, I was at the top of an embankment that sloped steeply down 15-20 feet to a rocky shoreline. The slope was covered in a dense thicket of salmonberry and Sitka alder. My impression was the call was coming from the rocky upper beach below the thicket, but I can’t be sure.

On the recording the mystery call of interest is the softer raspy sort of call that is repeated. There are also birds singing, a Swainson’s Thrush and an Orange-crowned Warbler. I would appreciate any thoughts and/or suggestions as to the identity of the maker of the odd call.

This morning I took a little time to check things out at Starrigavan. I didn’t spend much time looking, but did see a flock of shorebirds out on the flats near the water (the tide was out pretty far with a -1 tide predicted for this morning). I came back in and took a quick look around Eagle Way Beach as well – I didn’t see as many shorebirds as I had noticed yesterday (though I also didn’t spend as much time looking as closely), but today I did see Marbled Godwits (which had apparently flown off before I looked around yesterday).

When I arrived back home, I was walking across the yard and was a little surprised to hear a Red-winged Blackbird calling from nearby. I asked Rowan (who was sitting out on the deck) if she had heard it, she said “oh, the blackbird? It was just in the tree here, but moved somewhere over that way.” as she gestured off to the south. I walked over to Biorka Street and spent a few minutes following it from tree to tree (it seemed to favor mountain ash, for some reason). I heard it again later in the day in the backyard of a Biorka Street house. I’ve only ever heard or seen them before at Swan Lake or Starrigavan here in Sitka, so it was interesting to have one away from wet/marshy areas.

Weather today was once again sunny. It was calm for the first part of the day, and the temperature got up to 60, but by this afternoon a pretty good northwest breeze (maybe a sea breeze?) came up and the temperatures dropped down to the mid-50s. Still a nice warm day for this time of year.

I spent some time up Blue Lake road helping out with some invasive plant surveys. Still early in the season, but continued to find expected things like buttercups and dandelions mostly, with a couple of other things thrown in as well. There was a pair of Red-throated Loons on Blue Lake, and I heard my first of season Wilson’s Warbler at the beginning of Blue Lake road on our way out.

For over a year now, Anna’s Hummingbirds seem to have been continuously present in at least some Sitka neighborhoods. They are easier to overlook when plenty of Rufous Hummingbirds are keeping the feeders busy, but as the more abundant species returns south, it becomes clear that Anna’s Hummingbirds are around. I know of at least four different feeders where at least one (and in some cases 2 or 3) hummingbirds are continuing to visit regularly. I do not know how many birds this represents, as some of the feeders are close enough it seems fairly likely that the same bird is visiting multiple feeders.

On a late September walk I was a little surprised to hear the distinctive sounds of an Anna’s Hummingbird singing(? – I’m not really sure if it’s a song or not, but I don’t know what else to call it). I heard it again late in October on the corner of Degroff and Baranof Street and was able to catch one perched in a nearby tree for the photo that goes along with this post.

Anna’s Hummingbird off Lower Gavan Trail

Anna’s Hummingbird off of Lower Gavan Trail

Mystery Bird Song (right click to download)

I recorded this song in the neighborhood this morning, but was not able to see the bird (it seemed to be hanging out in a patch of trees, first in a large alder, then in some nearby conifers). I heard it still singing later in the morning and then thought it might be a Yellow Warbler (still not sighting), but now that I’ve had a chance to review what Yellow Warblers sound like, I’m thinking not.

So maybe I’m just having a mental block and forgetting a song I’ve heard before, but not for a while, or maybe this is an atypical bird for here (perhaps a different species, or a different song). I would be happy to get some help if you know what it is.

Update:
I was able to refind the bird, and this time I got a very brief glance of what I thought was the bird – enough to tell that it was warbler sized and mostly black and white underneath. I was able to follow it to another location not far way, where it continued singing (though much more quietly). I got a glimpse of a Yellow-rumped Warbler, but not at the same time as I heard the singing. Still, it was enough to lead me in that direction.

Part of the reason I did not previously consider Yellow-rumped Warbler is that I just chased one down a couple of days ago and its song was distinctly different sounding. I’ve added the only (very brief) clip I got of the bird the other day for comparison.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

After listening to a couple of different clips, it seems there is enough variation to encompass both songs as Yellow-rumped Warbler songs. There are two types of Yellow-rumped Warbler (formerly considered separate species), and Southeast Alaska seems to be mostly Myrtle’s or mixed, as I understand it. Perhaps some of the difference in song relates to the different types. In any case, Yellow-rumped Warblers are not very common around Sitka, and I don’t know that I’ve noticed them singing more than a handful of times – so that’s probably why the didn’t sound familiar to me. After this experience, perhaps next time I’ll recognize it.

Download Common Yellowthroat Song

I heard an unfamiliar bird singing down at Swan Lake today, that I thought might be a Common Yellowthroat. I was able to get a recording and photo to confirm. Although this species has been reported in Sitka several times during migration, it is not seen most years.

Download Clip

Today I heard an odd song coming from the trees and bushes on the slope behind the fire station. It started out like an Orange-crowned Warbler, but quickly veered off into unfamiliar (to me) territory. I was able to get recordings of it, but was never able to get more the briefest of glimpses of a bird moving through the bushes. Given where and how it seemed to be moving, I’m reasonably confident it was a warbler of some sort, what I don’t know is whether it’s a common warbler with an unusual song, or an a-typical warbler with its normal song that I just don’t recognize.

(Recording notes: I removed a lot of lower frequency sounds to minimize the sound of the traffic that was going by.)

Download Audio

I was sent a short clip of a strange sounding bird that had been recorded along Thimbleberry Lake trail. I was told the bird had been calling in the same area for a few weeks. It was a faint recording, but what I heard sounded sound-wise very much like a Varied Thrush, but the rhythm was not at all typical.

I went up that way today with a general idea of the area the bird had been heard. While sitting on the side of a small bridge under the shelter of a large hemlock not far from where the trail starts to leave the Thimbleberry Lake shoreline, I heard the bird calling and was able to get some recordings of it.

The bird was calling from the forest on the Verstovia (uphill) side of the trail. It did not sound too far away, but I was not able to get sight of it. The sound quality still makes me think Varied Thrush, but I’ve not ever heard one sing like this before. In the recordings I’ve posted here, I trimmed some of the longer quiet spaces between the calls (which were originally between 11 and 26 seconds, though most typically 15-20 seconds). Although in these clips the bird calls are in two or three note patterns, I was told that sometimes there were also four notes.

I am wondering if anyone else has heard something like this before – is it a Varied Thrush that is singing a different song for some reason? Or is there another species out there not typically found around Sitka that sounds similar to a Varied Thrush in sound quality but has this different song?

Thanks to Linda B. for letting me know about this bird.

20120616_mystery_bird clip 2

At the start of a hike up Indian River Trail (to the falls – first time I’ve done that in 3 or 4 years – which was sort of hard to believe) I heard a different sounding bird song. I couldn’t decide if it was something familiar with a song I wasn’t recognizing, or an unfamiliar bird. Fortunately I was able to get recordings of it singing, though with its position up in the canopy and the nearby river noise, the songs don’t stand out super clear. I did a little adjusting with audacity to try and bring them up a bit, so hopefully that helps.

I went for a walk this morning and saw some Song Sparrows getting in to it along Etolin Street. The recording above is one singing in the Donnelley’s yard, it had been trading songs with another one across the street. I even saw them have a brief physical skirmish sort of in the middle of the road. It seems like there are quite a few more Song Sparrows along Etolin Street than in the immediate vicinity of my house. I suspect it’s because there is better habitat for them (in the form of more shrubs).

Down at the park I saw a Northern Pintail and a Black-bellied Plover. I didn’t find the Marbled Godwit I saw yesterday evening. I also heard at least one Golden-crowned Kinglet singing as well as a Pacific Wren and multiple Varied Thrushes.

Today Rowan told me she wanted to tell the story of finding a starry flounder last spring. She said it was okay if I recorded her (which is unusual – as many times she is shy about being recorded). After catching the fish Connor and Rowan brought it up to the house for me to see. We put it in their wagon with some water and I took the picture at the top of the post.

click to download

20110505_RBSA_Lincoln_Street_Drumming.mp3

Been pretty swamped with work and house issues, but have made a little time to go look for spring migrants. This morning on the way back from Totem Park (where there are still lots of shorebirds) I recorded this short clip of a Red-breasted Sapsucker drumming on a metal roof.

Download Audio

While visiting Low Island recently, I was able to observe and record this Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) singing. It sounded a bit different than the sparrows I’ve been hearing around town – I guess I should try to record some of them for comparison.

Brant (Branta bernicla) and Black Turnstones (Arenaria melanocephala) can be heard a couple of times, and towards the end, some Black Oystercatchers (Haematopus bachmani) start raising a ruckus as well. The surf crashing up on the shore in the distance behind me is present throughout.

Recording was made with a Sony PCM-M10 which I held in hand. There was only a very light breeze, but without any wind protection to speak of, there’s still a little bit of wind noise.

This Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) was singing repeatedly while foraging in a salmonberry thicket along Lincoln Street early in the morning on 24 May 2010.

Yellow Warbler Singing

Recently I have been asking people if they have seen any Yellow Warblers this spring. While not an especially common species along the road system in Sitka (mostly due to lack of preferred habitat, I suspect), in many years they are show up around the first week of May. However, this year there I had heard of no reports, so I was curious if there were any around.

Early this morning I went for a walk around the neighborhood and heard a bird singing. I thought it might be a Yellow Warbler, though I am not so familiar with their song that I easily remember it, especially the first time I hear it each spring. The bird was moving around in a dense salmonberry thicket. From time to time I could see movement through the branches and leaves, but I was not able to get a good look. Eventually I was able to get the photo above in the brief moment it was partially visible through the leaves. Until I was able to look at the picture more closely, I wasn’t confident that it was a Yellow Wabler, but the look of its face and the streaks on its breast clinched it for me.

Black Oystercatchers

Black Turnstones (with accompanying calls from other birds in the area)

03-15-07song_sparrow.mp3 (624kb)

As I headed out of the building where my office is, I heard a Song Sparrow singing from the bushes near the entrance. Hearing the song, I stopped to listen for a short time. The bird was perched in a low bush very close to a drainspout. The melting snow from the roof resulted in a fair amount of water dripping to the ground, creating an tinkling accompaniment to the sparrow’s song. I thought it might be nice to get a recording of this bird, so when I got home, I took a chance and grabbed my recording gear. I did not hear it singing as I approached, but as I got set up, it started singing again, almost like it had been waiting for me to return. It continued to sing for nearly ten minutes with only short pauses between long verses. (Unfortunately for my recording, the song was occasionally drowned out by vehicles driving by, people walking in and out of the door behind me and letting the door slam behind them.)

The nature of the singing was different than I am used to hearing. Most noticably, it did not have the full-bodied, high-volume sound that I tend associate with the Song Sparrow singing. When I first heard some very brief bird a couple of days ago, I thought for a moment that there was a starling mimicing a Song Sparrow. The sound quality was much more nasal or perhaps it could be described as a buzzy whistle, whereas Song Sparrow voices during full breeding song seem to have a very clear tone. Another difference was the structure of the song. This bird was singing much more continuously rather than in relatively brief stanzas (comprised of several short ideas) followed by a fair pause. In some ways, the structure of the song was more reminiscent of what I’ve heard from a dipper (though I don’t think I would have mistaken this for a dipper singing, even if it had been by a stream).

The constant noise of the dripping water so near to where the bird had chosen to sing made me speculate on the reasons it might have chosen that particular location. The ground near the building and under the bushes was largely free of snow, and I had observed the bird foraging more than once over the last couple of days. That seemed to be a pretty good reason to be in the area, but it still did not explain to me why the bird chose to sing right next to the falling water instead of over under the conifer tree where it seemed more sheltered and out of sight. (Incidentally, when I heard the brief bits of song a couple of days ago, the bird was right next to the water spout then, also.) I came up with a couple of different possibilities (other than the trivial case that it could be just coincidence). It’s possible it was using the water to mask its song. I’m not sure why it might want to do this, except that it was just practicing, so maybe it’s not cool to have all the other birds hear your mistakes (not that there were many other birds around). The other reason I came up with (and the one I like to believe, if for no other reason than it appeals to my aesthetic sense) is that the bird was using the sound of the water as an accompaniment. Perhaps the tinkling sound of running, dripping water is something the bird enjoys singing with.

The bird finally did stop singing after ten minutes or so. It started looking around for food, but did not spend too long at it before going back to sing a little more. It had seemed quite comfortable with my presence on the porch of the building only a few feet away, but when I leaned over to look, it got a bit nervous and flitted back under the evergreen shrub a little further away. I decided it would probably be a good idea for me to get home (having already stayed longer than I intended), so I left the sparrow to its business. Hopefully I’ll be able to watch and listen to it again soon.

Weather: Saturday morning it was foggy, but the fog started to break up in the late morning. Sunday it rained throughout the day with low clouds.

Birds: It seemed like the birds were singing more on Sunday. I am not sure if that had something to do with the bird’s response to wet weather or if it was just me.

Other Notes: Rowan and I went out and gathered greens to add to calzones that I was making for supper on Sunday. We picked spinach, dandelions, and stream violets.

The day dawned clear and cool. There was frost on the ground and very little breeze; what there was came out of the North and was enough to cause my exhaled breath to drift, but even the lightest branches were not moving discernably.

The Northern Flicker was back this morning before 6am. I initially heard it calling in the distance, but it did not seem to be getting closer. However, after a while, I heard it close to the house. It engaged in some drumming on the house before leaving for awhile. Around 6:30am, it came back to do some more drumming. There was also a second flicker that I could hear calling in the distance. It seemed almost as if they were doing a little bit of competititve calling, but it was difficult to say for sure. At this time, I decided to get up and see if I could see it or maybe get a recording.

By the time I got outside (the kids needed a little wrangling), the flickers had gone away again. However, I did hear a winter wren singing from the backyard, so I decided to see about recording it. The wren turned out to be down at the edge of the woods behind the maintenance building and I recorded it singing for a few minutes. I also heard a Steller’s Jay, Crows, and Ravens. After recording the wren, I went over by the spruce tree and heard a Song Sparrow down on Lincoln Street and Gulls from down by the park.

While I was outside, I also heard some chirping from birds flying overhead. They were canopy feeders and I have heard them before, but I do not know what they are. I think they might be Pine Siskins or maybe Crossbills. I have not been able to get a good look at them to confirm, however.