On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place
Over the past couple of decades or more, sea otters numbers have increased dramatically in Sitka Sound. When I was growing up, I don’t remember seeing any sea otters until probably the early or mid-90s, and that was up close to Salisbury Sound. These days, it’s not hard to find rafts of 100 or more … Read more
At least three still-downy Pied-billed Grebes were hanging out on Swan Lake waiting to be fed by parents. Also today, Connor found a green caterpillar crawling on the sidewalk. He brought it home and we were going to try to find it a food plant, but discovered it just wanted to bury itself in dirt, so we left it in a small bucket of dirt inside a rearing cage on the porch to see what might emerge.
Pictures of a fungus collected at the recent bioblitz in Juneau. It so far has proved to be a stumper, with even experienced mycologists not recognizing it, despite it’s distinctive coarse hair-like appearance.
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 … Read more
While helping with environmental survey work at Blue Lake a couple of summers ago, this alder branch broke along where we had cut a trail through an avalanche path brush field adjacent to Blue Lake Creek. I am not sure what created the bore hole, but my guess is a beetle of some sort. It … Read more
Today was the first day in quite some time that there was enough precipitation to make the ground wet. There was not enough to penetrate very deep or form puddles, but it definitely made a difference. The story of the day in the woods was how green everything looked. At first I was uncertain whether … Read more