On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place
Plants
A couple of weeks back I had stopped to watch for the Northern Mockingbird and before it showed up, noticed some interesting looking growths. It looked like an overgrown mold (the tallest structures were probably 4-5 cm), so I figured it must be some sort of mold-related fungus. After sending the pictures to a friend, … Read more
One of the things that stood out to me on my recent visit to Ataku Island was how heavily some of the false azalea (Menziesia ferruginea) was browsed. The first stop we made after leaving the beach was a small clearing at the top of a knoll. It was not entirely evident to me why … Read more
A few days ago I noticed some crows perched in a crabapple (Malus fusca) loaded with fruit. They seemed fairly unconcerned with me, so I was able to watch and photograph as they pulled off the small fruits to eat. The native pacific crabapple fruits are small -about the size of the end of my … Read more
With my parents in town for a short visit and Alaska Day festivities (namely, the parade), it was a pretty full day. My dad wanted to check out a patch of cranberries he had noted this summer along Beaver Lake trail. The only time really had for that was this morning before the parade, so … Read more
Of course the highlight of today was getting to photograph a Northern Mockingbird (which I posted about separately), but before that there was a wander around Lower Gavan Trail looking for mushrooms and whatever else turned up. There were a few mushrooms around, but I was also interested to hear an Anna’s Hummingbird that was … Read more
On a walk up Starrigavan Valley yesterday, I was struck by the contrasting greens of the red alder (Alnus rubra), spruce (Picea sitchensis), hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) trees that comprise the young forest growing after early 70s clear cuts in the valley.