Neither plant is especially unusual in the area, but neither do they grow in locations that I frequent, so I tend to see one or the other of them only a few times a year. Both have leaves that are fairly divided and in a general way somewhat similar in shape. Also, the flowers make it very easy to tell these plants apart, and that’s when I’ve mostly noticed them. These facts (and clearly a lack of careful attention to the leaves) have resulted in me being uncertain about the plants when they are not blooming.

Hopefully this will no longer be an issue, as on that recent walk, I noticed a place where the two plants were growing side by side and took the picture shown above. The greanium leaf is on the left and the monkshood on the right. Comparing them this way, it’s not hard to see the differences.

Questions that come to mind:

• What other pairs (or more) of species are there that look superficially similar, but would be clearly different with a side by side comparison?
• Is the purplish edge on the geranium leaf a typical thing? (I noticed on the other leaves I looked at in the area.)
• If not, then what caused it?

This past winter a flock of geese could be found out at Starrigavan. As best I could tell, they were all Canada Geese, though some of them seemed distinctly smaller than others. The picture above shows two of the mis-matched geese. What stands out to me is the distinctly shorter neck and maybe smaller head (though I think the goose in front is looking slightly away from me, which makes it a little harder to judge accurately). Despite this, I think the bird in front still qualifies as a Lesser Canada Goose rather than a Cackling Goose. I would be happy to be corrected, however.

Last week Rowan found a small white nudibranch at John Brown’s Beach. It was one I had not seen before (which isn’t not particularly notable, since I haven’t spent a lot of time on marine life), but it seemed reasonably distinctive. However, it was not quite as easy to figure out as I had hoped. After some effort looking through the books, I came up with Hudson’s Dorid (Acanthodoris hudsoni). The frosted white tips of relatively conical shaped somethings – [I don’t actually know what they’re called], together with white (instead of red) gills, seemed like a good match. I hope to get this confirmed, but would be happy to get corrected.

Something else I noticed in my photos (though not at the time) were little spiral shaped things in among the conical shaped somethings. I’m not sure if their occurrence there was coincidental, or if they were actually associated with the nudibranch in a more direct way. I’ve been told they are diatoms, and a little searching on the internet turned up some pretty interesting high magnification photos of other spiral shaped diatoms.

Long-line season opened a little later this year, just late last week as I understand it (I recently learned that the season can open anywhere between the end of February and the end of March). As a result, there have been few concentrations of gulls to look at so far this year. That being the case, I didn’t expect to see much this morning while I was walking over to UAS for class, and indeed, the channel was pretty quiet as I looked over it while crossing the bridge. There were a few gulls in the little cove between the work float and Coast Guard dock, and while none of them stuck out strongly to my eyes, I decided to take a quick look through my binoculars as I walked by (I was already going to be a couple minutes late to class).

With binoculars, one of the gulls seemed distinctly darker and made me think I might be looking at a Western Gull. I only had time to take a few quick shots in the not yet bright light and I’ve included the best of them with this post.

Compared to the first Western Gull I saw back in 2008, this one does not seem to have quite as dark a mantle, nor are its eyes as pale yellow, but it does seem to match reasonably well with the Western Gull from last year. (This year’s gull’s eyes seem a bit darker in the photos than last year’s, but I think that’s because the pupils are much larger in this year’s due to the relatively dim light, whereas the one last year was in full sun.)

As I left class this morning, I saw a long-liner tied up at SPC and another down at North Pacific Seafoods, so it looks like long-liners are starting to deliver. There was much more gull activity in the channel, and while I was watching, it was clear there was some fish slurry that started being put out by SPC. Herring have not yet spawned, so I suspect that until they do (which could be any time in the next week or so), the channel will be pretty active with gulls, and there’s a decent chance this gull could be refound (though I did not see it the channel after class this morning).

Perhaps some of Luzulas I’ve seen are not Luzula parviflora – probably should spend sometime looking when they’re actually up.

Check out the Stellaria spp around town. Not that many of them, and shouldn’t be hard to get a better handle on the common ones (or at least be able to narrow most of them down to a couple of options).

First year White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows have been wintering in the neighborhood.

First year White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows have been wintering in the neighborhood.

These two sparrows posed nicely for comparing the differences between first year Golden-crowned Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow. The differences seem obvious to me now, but I remember the first time I found White-crowned Sparrows I had a hard time figuring out how to distinguish them from Golden-crowned Sparrows.

See below for update

Last Sunday I took these pictures of cormorants on a rock at the junction between Krestof Sound, Nakwasina Passage, and Olga and Neva Straits. At the time I didn’t notice anything particularly unusual, just thought I would grab photos to take a closer look later. Upon reviewing the pictures at home, I noticed one cormorant that looked different than the others. I am not certain what species it is.

It stood out initially because of the color on the lower base of the bill – at first I thought perhaps it just had something near the top of its throat that was stretching things out, but as I considered it more, I became less convinced by that explanation. It could be the angle, but the bird seems to be a bit more robust in head and neck than the surrounding Pelagic Cormorants. The bill also seems distinctly more yellow to me.

Double-crested Cormorants are not uncommon around here, but I would expect them to have a bill that was clearly thicker and more yellow than this one. Red-faced Cormorant (of which there are only a couple reports from Sitka – their range is west of year) should have red on its face, which this one doesn’t have. The other species to consider is Brandt’s Cormorant. They can be fairly abundant at times in southern Southeast (in the Ketchikan area, for example) – but their status in the Sitka area is a bit murky. Brandt’s Cormorants as shown in the field guide have a pale bit just at the top of the throat which doesn’t seem particularly in evidence on this bird. However, other photos I found on-line don’t always have that pale patch showing clearly, so that’s not necessarily a deal breaker.

At this point I’m uncertain whether this individual is just an odd looking Pelagic Cormorant or something else. I would welcome any comments one way or the other.

Update: For some reason I forgot that Pelagic Cormorants develop more than just a white patch during breeding season. I guess I haven’t actually seen that many in full breeding (they tend to hang out more in less protected waters during the summer) – but I do have a photo of one that is included below. In any case, it was pointed out to me by S. Heinl that this odd cormorant is probably just getting color in its face – it’s just an early developer compared to its peers, apparently.

I got an e-mail this morning from someone who reported seeing a dozen or so geese off the point at Totem Park this morning. She said it was dim and she didn’t have binoculars so couldn’t see them too well, but it looked like they might not have white cheeks, and might be worth checking out. I took this as motivation to get out of the house – something I might not have done otherwise.

By the time I headed out, skies were getting darker and snow was starting to fall. When I reached the park snow was falling heavily. Between the wind, snow, and moderately low tide, I couldn’t see the water at the end of the park, and I didn’t really want to wander out into the stiff breeze with blowing snow. Instead, I spent a little more time on the trail, gave some attention to the two species of alder, then walked over to the river mouth, and finally to the point, by which time the snow was starting to let up.

I walked out on the flats and was able to approach some of the 100 or more crows fairly closely. They seemed to be foraging for invertebrates and eating snow. It was fun to watch (and try to photograph) them flying up with mussels (I think) and dropping them to crack them open. I got pictures of several different individuals, but not a good full sequence for any particular time. I sorted the gallery pictures below so it’s in order, even though the pictures are from 2 or 3 different birds. One particular crow allowed me to approach quite closely as it was eating snow. I was interested in this, since Rowan had just told me a couple of days ago that she was able to see the crows eating snow at the park.

After heading back to the trail, I stopped to take pictures of 5 different alder trees. I like to try and notice differences between the species of alder (Alnus rubra and Alnus viridis) – and I think I found another one today. It seemed to work pretty well for the trees I could find at the park today, anyway.

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Northwestern Crows pick up molluscs and fly up before dropping them and racing down to grab the cracked shell before another can steal it.

Northwestern Crows pick up molluscs and fly up before dropping them and racing down to grab the cracked shell before another can steal it.

Northwestern Crows pick up molluscs and fly up before dropping them and racing down to grab the cracked shell before another can steal it.

Northwestern Crows pick up molluscs and fly up before dropping them and racing down to grab the cracked shell before another can steal it.

The Pyramids are mostly obscured by falling snow in front of them.

Northwestern Crow eating snow from the beach.

Northwestern Crow eating snow from the beach.

Black Oystercatcher at Totem Park.

Can you identify the species of Alder from the bark?

Can you identify the species of Alder from the bark?

Can you identify the species of Alder from the bark?

Can you identify the species of Alder from the bark?

Can you identify the species of Alder from the bark?

I was going to post some pictures from last weekend and write a note about the record snows we had in November, but ended up getting distracted by Luzulas on the wiki. In particular, I was looking at collections of Luzula piperi and Luzula wahlenbergii. Noticed a couple of oddities while browsing through the scanned herbarium sheets and sent a note to the curator. Not sure if that’s helpful or not, though. (I must say, it sure is nice to be able to look at those without needing to visit the herbarium in Fairbanks. I imagine it’s not quite as helpful for people with more knowledge who might need to look at more details of the plant, but for me it’s nice just to get a sense of what it looks like.)

As far as I know, I haven’t seen either of wahlenbergii or piperi, though they seem to be somewhat similar to Luzula parviflora (which is common around here, and I definitely have seen), so it’s entirely possible I’ve just been overlooking them (in fact, now that I’m looking at my Luzula parviflora photos – or at least the one’s I’ve got labeled as such – after going through those herbarium sheets, I’m inclined to question that id for some of those pictures). I guess this is yet another thing to try to remember to keep an eye out for next summer. Perhaps I should start writing blog posts and post dating them so they show up around the time I should be looking for these things. Seems like that could be a good reminder – I know there were a couple of other things I was going to try to pay attention to, but I’ve already forgotten at least one of them. (There were the Gymnocarpiums, and what else…)

In any case, perhaps I’ll finish up with the photos and write something about the November snows tomorrow. For now I’ll just include one of the photos I found a little more compelling than some of the others (though I couldn’t really say why).

Today Connor, Rowan and I went out with my dad and a friend to see if we could find a deer at Deep Inlet. Connor was quite enthusiastic and hopeful that he would get to shoot his first deer, or at least be able to see one cleaned/prepared for packing out. It was a sunny pleasant day with little wind, a little chilly in the shade, but not like a day I remember when I was a kid.

After hiking up the hill together, Rowan and I split off from the others. We saw plenty of tracks, but no deer. The last time I was up there was probably when I was around Connor’s age, so though it wasn’t too familiar, I was kind of surprised that I recognized as much as I did. (One thing is for sure, the hike up the hill wasn’t nearly as bad as I remember.) We joined back up after a bit and hiked back.

Along the way back, we followed a bear trail that had some relatively fresh tracks (probably from the day before). I was also interested to see a spot where the trail led up to a sign tree and the vegetation in the trail was distinctly different than that on either side of the trail (or even further away from the tree along the trail).

We checked out where the dead Gray Whale had been hauled last spring. I was a little surprised to see how little of it remained. I guess people came out and salvaged the bones, as there were none of those left that we could see. All we were able to find was a patch of what appeared to be skin/blubber. It seemed odd that bears hadn’t eat it down, but perhaps it wasn’t so good for eating for some reason.

It was a pleasant trip back in the boat – the kids each got a turn at driving. It took Rowan a while to figure out how to keep things going in the direction she wanted to go. We ended up turning circles for long enough that I started to get dizzy, but she finally started to get the hang of it. At the green can out off Galankin Island we saw a lone Steller’s Sea Lion laying out in the sun. It raised its head briefly to look at us before relaxing again.

We ended up making it home by early afternoon.

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This Great Blue Heron was perched on a harbor piling as we were getting to the boat.

This ancestral bear trail led up and past a sign tree.

This ancestral bear trail led up and past a sign tree.

I was struck by the difference in vegetation on and off the trail.

A Steller's Sea Lion was resting on this green buoy on our way home. It took a second to raise its head and look at us before relaxing again.

A Steller's Sea Lion was resting on this green buoy on our way home. It took a second to raise its head and look at us before relaxing again.

A Steller's Sea Lion was resting on this green buoy on our way home. It took a second to raise its head and look at us before relaxing again.

Over three years ago, I reported on a “Golden Glow Mystery” that was puzzling me. My brother and I had been hiking along Mosquito Cove Trail and I noticed a yellow something covering the surface of a muddy depression under a stump. First thinking it was pollen or spores, we determined that it was neither – as the intense golden yellow color was highly directional. That is, looking from some directions nothing was apparent on the surface at all even though from others, it took on the bright golden yellow appearance. I wrote up the post linked above and left it that, mostly not thinking much about it until recently.

Not long ago, a message was sent to Bryonet (an e-mail list for discussion of mosses and liverworts) by an individual who was curious about photographs of something he had seen in Nigeria back in 1978. The description sounded remarkably similar to what I had observed, so I sent a message with a link to the post with my photos, description, and speculation. There was some discussion on the list, but after a couple days I received a response from B. Estebanez in Spain, indicating that what I had photographed seemed to be a Golden Algae (chrysophyte) with the current genus name Chromophyton. The e-mail continued on, saying “in Japan it is very much appreciated when growing in ponds of temples and gardens, and its Japanese name is “hikarimo” (alga of light).”

A little googling did not reveal much additional information, though I was able to find a few pictures and a page on Chromophyton at algaebase.org. Only one species is listed for the genus, but I wonder if that might be due more to a lack of taxonomic work in the group rather than a reflection of what’s out there in the world. I’m quite satisfied to have a plausible name for what I observed – especially after I read part of the description on Alagaebase page that states: “Because the chloroplasts are oriented uniformly in relation to the direction of the light, the water surface seen from a certain position will show a bright golden coloration” – the very characteristic that stood out as being so unusual to me at the time.

On a related note, I find the way these answers came forward a rather fascinating process. Photographs taken nearly 30 years apart from Alaska and Africa, an e-mail list about (unrelated) bryophytes, and a response from Spain with commentary about the occurrence of the species in Japan all were vital links for me to get a solution to this mystery. I really appreciate the chance to make these connections that span the globe, and am grateful to those all those who contributed to this process.

More pictures of Chromophyton

The gathering of gulls at Swan Lake this time of year provides a good opportunity to practice identifying them.

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Gulls can still be a challenge, but this seems to be a fairly typical Thayer's Gull (Larus thayeri).

Gulls can still be a challenge, but this seems to be a fairly typical Thayer's Gull (Larus thayeri).

Gulls can still be a challenge, but this seems to be a fairly typical Thayer's Gull (Larus thayeri).

Two similar pictures - slightly different postures. Probably a pale-eyed Thayer's Gull.

Two similar pictures - slightly different postures. Probably a pale-eyed Thayer's Gull.

Trumpeter Swan feeding on grass at Swan Lake.

This gull is a little confusing to me; very pale eye and apparently dark underside of primaries (plus minimal white on primary tips) lead me toward Herring Gull, but orbital ring appears pink rather than yellow and both bill and overall size seems small, suggesting Thayer's Gull.

This gull is a little confusing to me; very pale eye and apparently dark underside of primaries (plus minimal white on primary tips) lead me toward Herring Gull, but orbital ring appears pink rather than yellow and both bill and overall size seems small, suggesting Thayer's Gull.

A fairly typical dark-eyed Thayer's Gull.

Another confusing gull for me. Overall structure relatively small - I'm not great at judging bills, but it doesn't seem particularly large. Underside of primary tips looks fairly pale. All pointing toward Thayer's Gull. On the other hand, very pale yellow eye and orbital ring looking closer to orange than pink suggest Herring Gull.

Another confusing gull for me. Overall structure relatively small - I'm not great at judging bills, but it doesn't seem particularly large. Underside of primary tips looks fairly pale. All pointing toward Thayer's Gull. On the other hand, very pale yellow eye and orbital ring looking closer to orange than pink suggest Herring Gull.

This gull seems to be a fairly typical Thayer's Gull (Larus thayeri)

Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)
Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana)
Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis)
Shore Pine (Pinus contorta)
Black Cottonwood (Populus balsamifera)
Red Alder (Alnus rubra)
Sitka Alder (Alnus viridis)
Sitka Willow (Salix sitchensis)
European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia)
Sitka Mountain Ash (Sorbus sitchensis)
Pacific Crabapple (Malus fusca)

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A couple of falls ago, I found the mushroom pictured above. It was growing on a long-stranded drift log at the end of Totem Park (now well away from the high-tide line). I noticed how dessicated it looked, and figured the recent dry weather had dried out the cap as it was dying back, so instead of the usual disintegration into a spongy/slimy pile, this one was going to turn to leather, at least until the rains came.

I was a little surprised when I returned a three days later to find the mushroom looking fresh and lively after recent rain. I would not have guessed that it had been so dried-up looking a short time before.

I don’t recall whether I collected any of these or not, but regardless, I don’t have an identity for them, but I suspect they may be a Galerina species.

Baeospora myosura, which I am calling Spruce Cone Mushroom, fruits primarily on Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) cones. In other parts of its range, it will also grow on Douglas Fir, but they are absent in this area. According to the California Fungi account for Baeospora myosura, there is only on other species that is sometimes confused with this one, but the various pictures available on the internet of each species seemed to make the ones pictured here a fairly easy call. Happily, the spores also reacted during a chemical test, confirming the identification.

Baeospora myosura at SE Alaska Natural History Wiki

Tar Spot fungi (Rhytisma spp) would seem relatively easy to identify to genus – the black spots forming on leaves seem fairly distinctive – but I suspect it would be difficult to identify them to species apart from their occurrence on specific host species. The Pacific Northwest Fungi Database includes entries for many species of fungi and their hosts. The only tar spot fungi associated with False Azalea (Menziesia ferruginea) is Rhytisma arbuti, so it seems like a reasonable bet for this fungus.

At least one other Rhytisma species is likely to occur in this area. There is one that grows on willows which I believe I have seen but not photographed. Another species that favors Vaccinium species is another likely candidate.

Rhytisma arbuti on SE Alaska Natural History Wiki

The summer I was working at Blue Lake and first noticed these seedlings, I figured they must be some sort of willow. Willows are somewhat notorious for being hard to identify, even with much more to go on than a seedling, so I did not have much expectation of being able to identify these seedings without figuring out what they turned in to. However, the only mature willows I saw up there seemed to be the typical-for-Sitka-area Sitka Willow (Salix sitchensis), and these seedlings were definitely not that. As the field season drew to a close, I just had to leave the identity of these seedlings as an open question.

The following summer when I was on a trip to Red Bluff Bay helping out with wilderness area surveys that the answer to this mystery presented itself. While hiking back down along the river after exploring some of the lower valley, I noticed a seedling that looked like what I had seen at Blue Lake. I stopped to take a closer look and happened to notice this seedling was growing directly below a good-sized Cottonwood (Populus balsamifera) tree . It finally dawned on me that the seedlings were cottonwoods.

If you never left the road system in Sitka (and trails directly accessible from it), you might think the only cottonwoods around were planted (or grew from seeds of trees that were planted). None of the rivers along the road (including Indian River, Starrigavan Creek, Sawmill Creek, and Medvejie Creek) have cottonwoods growing along them in the riparian habitat they are known for favoring. The majority of the trees occur in the downtown area and/or in yards (one notable exception being a single tree that seems out of place where it grows along Harbor Mountain Road a mile or two up). However, there were several cottonwoods growing along Blue Lake Creek above Blue Lake (and I’ve heard they also occur in some of the larger river valleys north of town). In hindsight, it seems like a pretty obvious choice, and I’m not sure why I did not make the connection at the time – except that the leaves were such a different shape.

A couple of years ago I helped out on some of the environmental surveys for the Blue Lake hydro project (the city is going through the process of permitting to raise the dam and thereby increase the power supply for the community). While up there, I saw several species of plants that are not especially common elsewhere near Sitka (at least not along the road system), so it was not terribly surprising to find things I did not recognize.

The seedling pictured here was one such plant that I did not recognize (thumbnails link to larger versions). I saw several similar looking seedlings, always on gravel bars with little else growing around (so probably they had been reworked the prior fall). I eventually did figure out what they were, but I’ll save that for a follow up post in case there are some that would like to try to figure it out before learning the answer.

Recently my kids have been interested in trying to figure out what a bird is from pictures I’ve taken. Although both have shown some interest in birds over he the past few years, my son Connor has spent much more time paying attention to birds and trying to figure out what they are, so in many cases something that is a challenge for Rowan, he knows immediately. The picture above was one such example, so I had Rowan do this one on her own with a couple of bird books and some prompting questions from me.

In what follows, I will explain the process she went through and follow up with a second picture, so if you don’t already recognize the bird and want to try figuring it out on your own, you can check your answer below.

The first two things Rowan keyed on were the size and the obvious red-colored under-wings, and the red mustache (malar). With some questions from me, she also noticed the spotted breast/belly and white rump. She did not really have an idea of what group this bird might belong to (though she was clear on some that it did not belong to, such as waterfowl and raptors).

She thumbed through the bird book and noticed a dove or two that had reddish looking under-wings, but I asked her about other features, they didn’t match. On a second go through the book, she stopped on Gilded Flicker, but the range did not include our area, and pictures of related flickers were not the best for comparison with the picture she had to identify, so she was about ready to move on when I suggested she use a different bird book, since sometimes they’ll have alternate views which are helpful. With the other book, she was able to conclude this bird was a Northern Flicker. When we discussed whether it was Red-shafted or Yellow-shafted (the range of each showing possible presence in Southeast Alaska), the most obvious call is Red-shafted due to the red shafts on its wing feathers. However, looking at the picture below, the bird had a red nape crescent, which is supposed to be a characteristic of Yellow-shafted birds. I explained that the two types can interbreed and have mixed up characters, and that has pretty much been the case with every flicker I’ve seen so far around Sitka.

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.

My son pointed this bird out to me this morning as we were on our way to Totem Park. It was perched at the very top of a mid-sized Sitka Spruce and I saw it do a flycatching loop once or twice before it seemed to vacate its spot when a Merlin flew by, after which we continued on to the park.

It was too far (high) to get a very good look, even with binoculars, but based on what I had seen, I was confident that it was a flycatcer, and thought it might be a Western Wood-Pewee based on behavior and an impression of size/shape (that is, it seemed a bit to small/squat for an Olive-sided Flycatcher based on my very limited experience).

When we got back a while later, we saw the bird had moved to a snag not too far from where we had first observed it. Though the light was better, the new preferred perch was even higher and further back than the first had been. I watched it for a while several different times during the day, and it was still actively flycatching from the snag until around sunset at least. The first time I saw it there was shortly before noon, so it had been there for at least 8 hours, and probably a couple more.

Though the bird was too far away for any chance of a quality photo, I took many in hopes that they would show enough details to allow for a better chance at a positive identification. I have included the best of these in the composite shown above. My best guess is still Western Wood-Pewee. The behavior certainly fits. However, some of its plumage characteristics raise questions in my mind. In particular, it seems to be rather pale breasted, the wing bars seem to be a more pronounced than I might expect, and there’s a pale area between the eye and the bill. Still, I’m not sure what else it could be. I wouldn’t be surrprised if these questions can be explained with lighting and/or variability in the species, so I’m hoping others with more flycatcher experience might help me out.

Sickle Moss (Sanionia uncinata) infected with Eocronartium muscicola)

Last summer I noticed these white growths while doing some plant surveying work along Blue Lake Creek. At first glance I thought maybe they were rootlets coming from the trunk of the tree (either Red Alder or Sitka Willow, I can’t remember which). Closer examination revealed that they were actually growing directly from the moss. The only thing I have noticed growing out of a moss like that is sporophytes, but there are also sporophyts present and they seem different enough to make me think that the white growths are not a stage in the development of the sporophytes (though perhaps I’m wrong about this?).

I believe the moss is a species of Hypnum though I am not sure which one. So far, this is the only time I have noticed anything like this, so I am tempted to say it must not be very common. However, experience has taught me that I overlook many things, so I don’t really know how common it might be. In any case, I would appreciate any suggestions as to what might be going on with these growths.

A note on the photo: the image seen here was created from 3 initial images, each focused at a slightly different point. They were then stacked in the computer to give a greater depth-of-field.
It didn’t work perfectly, so there is a little bit of a funny look to some parts of the photo.

Mystery Call: This is almost certainly a gull. I am not sure which species, though. My best guess would be a Mew Gull or maybe a Thayer’s Gull. I do not know what it was doing flying over at 00:57 during a relatively calm period before the wind and rain kicked up again. Download Mystery Call

Birds in the Storm: The small song birds don’t have the luxury of waiting out hard weather. This short clip is of kinglets or chickadees calls that can be heard over rain and wind. Recorded at 08:26. Download Birds in the Storm

Raven Calls: These calls which I might describe as ‘caw-alk’ are fairly typical to hear from the Ravens around here, although perhaps not quite as common as the regular cawing call they make. Download Raven Calls

Northwestern Crow: A brief call by a Northwestern Crow. Sometimes there are lots of them around the neighborhood, but that does not seem to be the case currently. I thought the slight reverb/echo was interesting, but I’m not sure where it was coming from. Download Northwestern Crow

Crossbills: This is two clips recorded not too far apart. I believe the first clip is of Red Crossbills, and I think the second clip may be White-winged Crossbills, but I am uncertain. I’m hoping someone can confirm and/or clarify the difference in their calls for me. Download Crossbills