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 this area was not treed, as it would seem to have reasonable drainage (being at the top, without a lot of flat area to collect water) and nothing topography or underlying soil/bedrock-wise to keep the trees from growing. Although it had some species of muskegs, including Labrador tea (Rhodendron groenlandicum, both species of cranberries as well as the dwarf shrub blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), there was not sphagnum that I could find, and there was a fair amount of grass (but I think maybe not sedges, although I could be wrong, as I didn’t check closely) growing in the mix. Also present were the rusty menziesia (Menziesia ferruginea) shown in the pictures here.

Rusty menziesia is generally considered unpalatable for deer, and I think I’ve only rarely noticed it browsed on, and then typically only a small amount. What stood out about these was how far down the stems had been browsed, apparently repeatedly over multiple years, given the size of the main stem. At least that was my impression. Following a pattern I’ve seen elsewhere with other browse, it was interesting to note that not 20 feet away was a larger menziesia plant that showed very little sign of being browsed. Also of interest to me was the conspicuous lack of evidence that the Labrador tea had been browsed at all, there were many robust shrubs growing on (or maybe helping to create) small hummocks in the clearing.

Ataku Island is not large, though it is connected at low tide to the somewhat larger Tava Island. Deer are good swimmers and these islands would not require an especially long swim to leave (or reach). That said, deer on the island might prefer to stay when the temperatures drop. There was plenty of reasonably fresh deer sign in the form of pellet piles in the clearing. I don’t know how many deer that represented, but it seemed clear at least one liked to hang out there.

I suspect the clearing is favored resting spot of deer. Perhaps they liked being up at a high spot so it could hear the approach of others (sound seems to carry better uphill), but also the relative protection of this spot, as the trees were tall enough to provide a wind break. The heaviness of the browse in the clearing proper combined with the almost non-existent browse not far away makes me think maybe the deer is just lying there munching on what it can reach, even if it’s not particularly palatable. If it goes through the effort of actually moving at all, it will move to where there is better food than the menziesia.

I also wonder if the clearing is being maintained by deer. There were a few very small evergreens growing. They did not seem obviously browsed to me, but I am not sure if maybe at times (especially in winter) they get hit. Although I did not explore the island thoroughly, some of what I did see didn’t look especially nice as far as deer forage is concerned. There were extensive patches of what look like older second growth (perhaps cut down during WWII) where there was plenty of moss, but very little understory herbaceous or shrubby plants. Of course other areas were more open with some graminoids and shrubs. Unfortunately I did not pay enough attention to note the amount of browse evidence I saw in those areas.

Questions:

• How many deer spend time on Ataku Island?
• How long do deer typically stay on the island?
• Assuming there is a seasonal pattern to deer inhabiting the island, what season is preferred?
• Are deer maintaining the clearing? If not, then what?

Connor was investigating this old scat that he found on a log, or I probably wouldn’t have noticed it. Although the age seems to have deteriorated the form significantly, making it a bit more difficult to tell what sort of animal might have left it, there are really not too many options for what it could have come from. I suppose the first thing to decide is whether it’s a scat at all – as it did occur to me that I should consider whether it might be a cough pellet. In the end, I don’t think it is a cough pellet because it appears to be full of fibrous vegetative matter, and birds that leave cough pellets like this wouldn’t be eating so much vegetation.

Eliminating birds leaves us with mammals. I think we can eliminate the small mammals just due to the size/volume. It seems conceivable that a mink or marten could leave a scat of this size/volume, and certainly anything larger could, though normally we might expect to see a larger pile. Given the paucity of mammal species on Baranof Island, we’re left with mink, marten, river otter, deer, and bear. The presence of so much roughage would seem to make the mustelids unlikely candidates.

The placement of the scat was sort of odd, though unfortunately I didn’t get a picture that showed it well. The picture titled ‘split cedar’ shows the upper part of the small log it was resting on. It’s possible the log received only a partial pile, though it didn’t seem like there was anything super obvious on the ground around it (although I didn’t check for that specifically). It may be that the stuff that ended up on the log has persisted longer.

At this point, if I were forced to guess, I would say deer. Maybe a smaller one that had a somewhat loose (rather than pellet) movement. The color/consistency seems better for deer, and there’s quite a bit of fairly woody looking material (which I wouldn’t really expect to see with bears, and certainly not with mustelids). The presence of so much woody looking material makes me wonder about the age of this, I wouldn’t expect it to be around for months (especially with as much rain as we’ve had this year), but on the other hand it’s my impression deer don’t do too much browsing of woody material when there’s abundant fresh leafy growth.

[Show slideshow]

Questions;

• What do you think produced this scat?
• How old is the scat?
• Is it possible to draw any conclusions from the consistency/length of the fibrous material? (that is, if all we had to go on was the fibrous material, would we be able to tell whether it was a deer or a bear that had chewed it up?)

Please leave a comment with your thoughts or ideas on this mystery.

While walking the Forest and Muskeg trail yesterday, I stopped to take the pictures I’m using on this post. There are two things in particular that catch my eye, one that I noticed at the time (and prompted me to take the pictures in the first place). The second I didn’t notice until I got home and looked at the pictures, but I wish I had been aware of it at the time so I could have looked closer.

What caught my eye initially was the ground dogwood (Cornus sp) growing out of a crack in the park of a yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis). Given that ground dogwoods produce berries, it seemed an unlikely place for a seed to find itself. I suppose it’s possible that a bird or perhaps a squirrel ate berries deposited them up in the tree and one of the seeds subsequently washed down the trunk. I think it’s somewhat more likely that a rhizome grew up under the bark and the plant emerged from it. It would be easy enough to check for this, though I didn’t at the time.

What I noticed only upon inspection of the pictures was the leaf damage on the ground dogwood was due to leaf mining activity. Over the past couple of years I’ve tried to pay more attention to leaf mines and hopefully catch them early enough to be able to capture and raise up whatever is making them. From the looks of the photos, the maker probably had already vacated the leaf, but it would have been good to check. I did notice the leaves were turning dark, so I’m not sure why I didn’t catch the fact that it was due to mining.

Questions

• What eats ground dogwood berries?
• When do ground dogwood berries get eaten? (they are abundant now, but my sense is they don’t persist into winter, though I’ve not paid specific attention. Also, I’m not sure if they get eaten or just fall off and rot.)
• What mined the ground dogwood leaves?
• How commonly are ground dogwood leaves mined? (I’ve so far only noticed a few, and these are by far the most extensively mined)
• What defenses do plants have against leaf miners?

Original post where the mystery is offered. If you’ve not read it already, check it out and then come back here.

Given the uniformity of the trail, my best guess at this time is a gastropod of some sort. Perhaps the periwinkles or limpets that are common at this upper level of the beach. I can’t figure out how they would leave a trail of sand, however. It was not a windy day, so there’s no way I can think of the wind would have blown on a moist trail. The other alternative that comes to mind requires a fair supply of sand sticking to our limpet or snail and being deposited in a fairly uniform fashion as it moved along its several inch path. It’s not clear to me how (or why) the creature would be packing such a supply.

The timing of the track is also a bit of a mystery, though solving it might provide a clue to the ‘how’ question. My first thought was the sand must have been deposited after the water dropped below this section of beach. It seemed obvious enough that a sand trail like this would not survive immersion. However, if I question this assumption, perhaps there is a way for sand to adhere despite being submerged. If the creature laying the trail produced an actual slime trail that held together for a time even when underwater, the sand lifted into the water column by gentle wave action (it was a calm day) could stick to the slime trail. Once exposed to air by the falling tide, the slime could dry and leave a dry sand trail with no obvious means of creation. This possibility actually seems more likely to me, though I still don’t know what created the trails. Some measurements of the gastropods on that part of the beach could narrow down my options a bit.

[Show slideshow]

I almost passed by without noticing the odd streak of sand across a face of the rock embedded in the beach. I was in a broad transition zone between the sandy lower beach and loose cobbles at the base of a bedrock cliff at the highest intertidal zone. It would have been easy enough to dismiss sand on the rocks as errant grains left when the tide last splashed at this level a few hours before, but a second look revealed there was more to it; a sharply defined band with a bit of a meander that suggested something other than the result of wave action as the tide was dropping. As best I could tell, it looked like a track, but I can’t think of what might leave such a track of sand. Further investigation revealed several other rocks subject to similar crossings, so whatever left it must be reasonably common.

Although the actual sandy beach here is 10+ feet away, there is ample source sand around the base of the rocks and large cobbles that mark the this section of beach. The sand was dry (and brushed off easily) when I touched it, though either it or the rock must have been at least damp when it was placed (or much of it would never have adhered in the first place). I was visiting the beach because of an exceptionally low tide, so it had probably been close to 6 hours since the tide was up at the level where I observed

Originally I was going to include my thoughts about how this trail came to be, but I decided just in case someone wants to ponder the question for a bit, I’ll hold off and publish a followup post with my thoughts after a day or few. Feel free to leave a comment with additional questions about what I observed if there’s something else you would like to know to help figure it out.

[Show slideshow]

Questions:

• Have you ever seen tracks like these before?
• How do you think they were made?
• When do you think they were made?

Earlier this year I posted about yellow jacket scrape marks on my deck. The activity has continued throughout the summer and I finally got around to trying to capture (digitally) one of the workers. I posted a photo on bugguide and got the Common Aerial Yellow Jacket (Dolichovespula arenaria) back as the id. I still don’t know if there are multiple species, as this is the only one that I’ve documented so far.

Questions:

• How many species are utilizing the deck for fiber?
• Where is the nest?
• What types of wood/fiber do yellow jackets use/need? (clearly they like yellow cedar, but it naturally seems to generate fibrous stuff on the outside, which might make it easier for them to collect/use)
• Does availability of suitable natural fiber limit populations? (I would guess not, with all the dead wood around here.)
• If nothing else degraded the wood on the deck, how long would it take for the yellow jackets to remove it all? How many nests would it make? (I think I’ll submit these to What if?)

While waiting for others to show up for a hike at Indian River trailhead, I saw someone start up the trail. She came back just a few minutes later and said hello to me – I had not recognized her at first, but she reminded me she had been working with Cascade and Matt on their project at John Brown’s Beach. She said she had planned to go for a longer hike, but guys working up on the water treatment facility had just seen two bears walk by a few minutes before.

I was part of a larger group (13 of us all together) and not particularly concerned about bears, but it was fun to see very clear fresh looking foot prints about 5 minutes up the trail. Fish are starting to move up the river (in fact it was just before this that we stopped to watch an eagle eating a fish – which I’ll post about in the next day or two), so hopefully the bears that have been getting into things in several neighborhoods around town will find their fill of fish and reduce the chances of a negative encounter with people.

Questions:

• How often do you notice wild animal tracks when you are out and about?
• How many bears use Indian River trail?
• Was the bear that made these tracks male or female (is it possible to tell)?
• Where will this bear go to den up for the winter?

On a recent walk to the park, I was interested to notice at least two different chunks of yellow jacket nests on the ground along the trail. I’m not sure what species was working on them – I’ve seen a couple of different ones here – but I imagine it’s the queens getting things going. I know they’ve been gathering wood pulp, and I’ve seen an intact nest so I’m not surprised nests are getting built in the park as well. What I was sort of surprised about is that they were broken down on the ground. Had I only seen one, I wouldn’t have thought much of it, except to note it and move on (in fact, that’s what I did with the first), but then seeing more, it made me wonder if something was going on. I considered whether birds were getting in and eating whatever larva might be developing, though I don’t even know if that’s how those nests work, exactly. Someone else suggested to me that perhaps it was yesterday’s wind, and some of the nests weren’t up to the challenge of a decent blow from the direction it was coming. In the end, I’m not sure what happened.

So to summarize what I have realized I don’t know as a result of noticing these nests:

• What species (of yellow jacket) is making the nests?
• Who makes the nest (the queen? workers? both, depending on the time?)
• I believe these are social, so it’s presumably workers reared in the nest?
• What caused the nests to fail/fall?

If you know the answer to any of these questions, please feel free to leave a comment!

I was tempted to make this a quiz, but anyone who bothered to look at the image filenames could pretty much see the answer, so I’ll go ahead and forgo that approach in this case.

I think it was in 2012 that I watched a yellow-jacket doing something on a wooden (probably cedar) lamp post that was untreated and unpainted. At first I was not sure what it was doing, but it returned more than once. Upon inspection, I saw little scrape marks in the wood and realized the insect was gathering building material for its nest. I have of course seen the paper nests that wasps make, and I knew in theory they were made out of wood (I think I have learned they mix with the wasp equivalent of saliva – but that might be an over simplification), but it had never occurred to me to think about where/how these insects actually got the wood. It seems that at least in some cases they utilize wood provided by humans. It doesn’t have any bark to deal with, and I imagine that’s a plus.

In any case, although I’ve not directly observed them doing so (my kids have) and can’t say what species has been around, clearly whatever species it is has made a fair use the exposed cedar I’ve provided in the form of support posts for a deck. Most of the posts have some evidence of scraping, though the one pictured has seen more visits than the others as far as I can tell.

I’ll leave you with this question to ponder – assuming there was no other source for decay or degradation of the wood, how long would it take for a post to be used up by these nest building wasps? (Perhaps someone can come up with a What if? style response and post it in the comments.)

Walking to class this afternoon I stopped and took pictures of ice in various configurations.

[Show slideshow]

Conditions at Swan Lake were a bit slushy on top of old ice before the temperature dropped. Several sets of bird tracks were then frozen in the ice.

Conditions at Swan Lake were a bit slushy on top of old ice before the temperature dropped. Several sets of bird tracks were then frozen in the ice.

Conditions at Swan Lake were a bit slushy on top of old ice before the temperature dropped. Several sets of bird tracks were then frozen in the ice.

Pancake ice accumulated in the cove and was stranded by the falling tide.

Pancake ice accumulated in the cove and was stranded by the falling tide.

Pancake ice accumulated in the cove and was stranded by the falling tide.

Pancake ice accumulated in the cove and was stranded by the falling tide.

Walked down to Totem Park with the kids again today. It was pretty rainy for much of the time we were there, though the rain stopped and skies lightened a bit before we left.

[Show slideshow]

Remains of a bird, probably a Common Murre, most likely consumed by an eagle.

Many feathers are caught in the branches where a Bald Eagle is plucking its lunch (probably a Common Murre).

Many feathers are caught in the branches where a Bald Eagle is plucking its lunch (probably a Common Murre).

Buckiella undulata growing at base of a spruce tree.

Mt. Kincaid casting shadows into the mist and.

There was a chance that frisbee might be played this morning at Moller Park, so the kids and I walked up the west side of Swan Lake to check it out. I figured in the likely scenario that frisbee was not happening, we could at least get some birding in – see if there was anything of particular interest as we head in to count week for the Christmas Bird Count this Sunday. As it turned out, there were a couple people playing catch, so we joined them for a bit, before continuing on.

Rowan was surprisingly interested in birding today, while Connor was much less so. Usually it’s the other way around. Rowan had played on the playground for part of the time Connor and I were playing catch and she opted to go with me along the Path of Hope while Connor decided to play on the playground for a while. I sent her off into the lower brushy area to see if there were any sparrows or thrushes lurking about. She ended up coming up through a (very) minor unofficial trail to try and sneak up on me while I was at the overlook checking out what was on Swan Lake (and there wasn’t much I could see). She wanted to return the way she came, so I went over to the parking for the path of hope – noticing mostly juncos and a few Pine Siskins in the parking lot and at the feeder across the street (earlier Rowan heard then we saw a couple of small flocks flying over – perhaps 30+ birds in all).

Walking down the road, Connor came out to meet me, but Rowan still hadn’t found her way out of the forested area. While waiting for her, Connor and I spotted a Downy Woodpecker – a bird I’ve only seen a handful of times around here over the years. I sent Connor to find Rowan so she could see it also, while I tried to take some pictures. The photos didn’t turn out that great, but fortunately it stuck around long enough for Rowan to get a look at it.

Rowan had found a bird skeleton in the bushes along the ‘trail’ she had been on. She picked up the skull and wanted to pick up some of the other bones, but it sounded like after looking away to get a stick to use, she couldn’t find where the remainder of the skeleton was. She thought the skull might be a sparrow, but I suggested a warbler was more likely, since there were still yellow feathers associated with it. Also, the bill looked better for a warbler, though she and I didn’t talk about that at the time. She carried the skull all the way home so we could keep it. At the time she was talking about trying to figure out what it was by looking in the bird book, but by the time we got home, I think she just wanted to eat lunch, and then forgot about that project.

Rather than retrace our steps, we continued around on Cascade Street, then down Lake Street. Connor decided to head on home to start lunch warming up, while Rowan and I stopped to check out the birds on Swan Lake. I was able to count 15+ Ring-necked Ducks, as well as some scaups and mallards near the radio station. At the peninsula there was the lone Trumpeter Swan, many more Mallards and a few gulls, including the first year Glaucous Gull.

Rowan noticed all the tracks in the snow at the peninsula and said she thought the swan had been walking around a bunch. I’m not sure what made her think they were swan tracks instead of gulls and mallards, but she realized the difference when a couple people came and spread some corn out for the birds. The swan walked over to get some, and then Rowan was able to check out the tracks where she had seen the swan walking. We were both impressed with the size.

Overall it was a quiet day – a bit of wind, but not too much, bird activity seemed pretty low, and there wasn’t a lot of precipitation. What did fall was kind of a heavy wet snow, but there wasn’t enough to add any depth to the thin ground covering that we got overnight.

[Show slideshow]

This Downy Woodpecker foraging on trees near Moller Park.

Rowan found this bird skull (probably a warbler) in brush near the Path of Hope.

Rowan found this bird skull (probably a warbler) in brush near the Path of Hope.

Two Glaucous-winged Gulls and a Glaucous Gull at Swan Lake.

Trumpeter Swan tracks in the snow at Swan Lake.

Trumpeter Swan tracks in the snow at Swan Lake.

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.

[Show slideshow]

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.

As I write this (December 2011) I don’t remember where these photos were taken. I think they were probably at Halibut Point Rec, though I have no other record from that visit.

As best I can tell, these tracks are from a squirrel bounding across the sand.

[Show slideshow]

I'm pretty sure these are tracks of a Red Squirrel bounding across the sand.

I'm pretty sure these are tracks of a Red Squirrel bounding across the sand.

On more than one occasion this year, I’ve noticed much greater levels of vole activity than I have seen in previous years. I’ve hiked up Bear Mountain the last 4 years, and this year the vole runs extended much higher, with much more wear than I have noticed in any of the past hikes. I even an saw one scurrying up past along a rivulet up in the rocky alpine where vegetation (including the ground covering heathers) was very sparse. On the bowl at Harbor Mountain (right up from the end of the road), there were many runs criss-crossing the slope as well as many other runs in the mixed meadow and mountain hemlock subalpine areas. Finally, there were several long runs in just the small section of Indian River Valley muskeg I visited a couple of weeks ago (the pictures included with this post are from that trip). I’ve been visiting this muskeg at least once most years for over a decade, and I do not ever recall seeing such runs in the past. There is of course the possibility that I just overlooked them, however I remember noticing vole runs in the alpine on some of my earliest hikes up there as a teenager, and the muskeg runs are quiet similar, so I suspect I they were not there in such abundance.

Small rodent populations are known to go through boom and bust cycles in some locations, though I don’t know if population dynamics of voles in Southeast Alaska have been studied. I have some suspicion that the recent winters with persistent winter snow have contributed to increased populations, especially at lower elevations where they may face increased predation pressure without the snow to protect them. I do not know what tends to control the population generally, predation or competition/food supply. As the only vole species, I do not imagine they have much competition from other species for resources (there are also Deer Mice, but I don’t know how much their resource usage overlaps). For that matter, it seems like there are not that many predators, either. Marten and Ermine, Western Screech-Owls as well as other less common owls, and other raptors seem like the most likely candidates. In particular, Marten studies on Chichagof Island showed that voles were a primary food source for them, so it seems likely the same would hold true for Baranof Island.

It will be interesting to see what impact the high population of voles will have overall. Presumably it’s good for the predators, and could lead to increased populations of resident marten, ermine and Western Screech-Owls. It will also be interesting to see if we have more reports of raptors that are not normally found very often here in winter, including Northern Saw-whet Owls, Snowy Owls, and Red-tailed Hawks (or other hawks).

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 seems likely that the branch broke where it did because it was weakened by the hole. I may be that the hole provided an opportunity for decomposing fungi to get started, which would have further weakened that location. It’s probably not easy to get the identity of the borer based only on these excavations, so I suspect this will remain a mystery for quite some time.

Most likely an eggshell from a recently hatched Varied Thrush. The adults of many species apparently take the shells away from the nest so they do not become an attractant to predators.

This eggshell fragment was laying on the moss at the edge of a gravel bar on Indian River shortly above the second bridge. Given the size and color, I figured it must be a thrush egg. However, it seems a bit too early for Hermit Thrushes and especially Swainson’s Thrushes to have nestlings. American Robin eggs are pure blue, and the book I have about eggs and nestlings shows Varied Thrush eggs being pure blue as well. I took a look on the Birds of North America On-line account of Varied Thrush and found a photo there of eggs with light speckling. Though that example was not nearly as speckled as this, given the time and location, my best guess is this was from a recently hatched Varied Thrush. I do not expect the nest was particularly close, as it is my understanding that many bird parents will carry such things away from the nest in an effort to help avoid detection and predation of their young.

Most likely an eggshell from a recently hatched Varied Thrush. The adults of many species apparently take the shells away from the nest so they do not become an attractant to predators.

The outcrop was basically a cliff that seemed to go well below the bay’s surface. It was a good thing it was high tide, or I probably would not have been able to get off and look around at all. During the course of my visit, I walked a short distance along a ledge that varied from a couple of feet to several feet wide, bare rock in some places with a fair amount of vegetation growing in others.

In the first spot of vegetation I came to, I noticed a handful of empty limpet shells scattered over a small area on a carpet of moss protected by the trees and shrubs growing there. A few feet away, I noticed another shell on top of a very small ledge a foot or two off the main ledge I was standing on. I had a bit of curiosity about the shells, but was mainly focused on looking for different-seeming plants, so I only paused briefly to consider the shells and did not take any pictures.

I continued walking down the ledge a little bit further before turning around. At one point I noticed a small dark brown bird fly along the base of the cliff below me, but I had not noticed any other obvious (to me) bird sign on the ledge.. I looked at the shells as I neared my pick up spot, but by this time I had my hands full with rock fragments and bryophyte collections, so it did not seem worth it to take the time to put it all down and take a picture of the shells and their context.

Of course it wasn’t long after leaving the cliffs and heading back into town that the limpet shell mystery started to dominate my thinking about the place. I was kicking myself for not taking some pictures, it would have only taken a minute or so, and I knew this was a location I would not be likely to get back to soon. It’s not that the photos would necessarily have helped me solve the mystery, but they would have made it easier to verify my memories of some of the details and check for things I might not have noticed at that time. Plus it would have been nice to illustrate this blog post (which is one of only a few that don’t have photo illustrations) to give others a better chance to offer suggestions as to what the shells may have been saying.

If anyone has thoughts/ideas about the shells and how they came to rest where they were, I would be interested in hearing them. I will share my own theories in a follow-up post.

A neighborhood Red Squirrel has been clipping hemlock branches with cones.

On a small island of trees at the bottom of the street we live on, there’s been a squirrel that Connor and Rowan have been paying some attention to. Though I am unsure of their reasoning, they have taken to calling it Hola, and most times we walk by, one of them will point him out. (I am not convinced it’s a male squirrel, but I’ll go with their thinking regarding its gender until there’s evidence otherwise.)

A neighborhood Red Squirrel has been clipping hemlock branches with cones.

The other day we were walking past the island and I noticed a lot of little hemlock branches on the ground. Upon pausing to consider how they came to be there, another one dropped a short distance from me. I looked up and saw Hola working at trimming the ends of branches. All the trimmed branches had cones on them, a fact which I hadn’t really noticed before.

Connor and Rowan seemed to be unsurprised by this behavior, and proceeded to show me a hole where Hola would go at times. Connor believed this hole to be Hola’s home, and he showed me where he had made an effort to help Hola with his work by putting branches at the entrance.

A neighborhood Red Squirrel has been clipping hemlock branches with cones and piling them at the base of trees.

The next day Connor and Rowan were playing down on the island and I asked them about Hola’s activities while I waited for someone to stop by with a delivery. They told me that Hola had been gathering the trimmed branches and piling them at the bases of several trees. I guess that would make them more convenient for grabbing and eating from a favored branch, but the issue of convenience brings up the question of why he’s trimming the branches in the first place. He could just grab the cones from the branches as he wants.

I can think of a couple of reasons Hola harvests the cones in the way he does. The branches ends where the cones are located are quite flexible, and it seems unlikely that he would be able to hold on and eat while out there. That would require a trip to the end to grab a cone, followed by a retreat back to a steady location for eating. This seems like an inefficient process for getting food. Another reason might be that the cones will continue to mature if they remain on the tree. Sometime this winter when conditions are right, they will open up and release their seeds to the wind. Once trimmed, it seems the cones are much more likely to remain closed, leaving the seeds available for Hola to eat. One thing I wonder about though is the quantity of cones harvested. So far it does not look like very many cones have been collected. I would think only enough to last a few weeks, but not the whole winter. Perhaps some are being moved to locations where they are not so visible. I will try to pay attention over the coming weeks and months to see whether Hola continues to harvest and use cones in this way.

A neighborhood Red Squirrel has been clipping hemlock branches with cones and piling them at the base of trees.

The over the past day or two, the gull has been pulled further into the whole in the bank.

Last week I noticed a gull cached in the bank of the flume. In the days since, I have managed to stop by there a couple of times to check on it, and until yesterday it hadn’t looked much different to me. Yesterday, there was much less of the gull in evidence, with only a wingtip and a few scattered feathers visible from above. I am assuming the gull has mostly been consumed at this point.

The over the past day or two, the gull has been pulled further into the whole in the bank.

Connor noticed there was a hole above the bank beside the trail that appeared to be active and likely connected to the where the gull was stashed. I didn’t check carefully, but I think the hole was probably only 2-3 inches in diameter, a size that makes me think a mink is most likely who is working on the gull.

Mallard remains observed a short distances off trail in Totem Park.

A couple of weeks ago while walking through Totem Park on a typically fall cool overcast day, something odd caught my eye near the northwest edge of the younger second growth stand on the south side of the river just up from the estuary meadow. It was a pale form with a streak of orange color lying about 10 paces off the trail along a very minor side path, not even really enough to qualify as a game trail. I mentioned to Connor that I had seen something, and though he didn’t see it, he decided to investigate more closely. I waited at the trail while he made his way through the mostly leafless salmonberry bushes that lined the main trail where we were.

It took him a few moments to spot it, and when he told me it was part of a duck, I went over to look it over more closely with him. I have seen dead birds before, but not like this. All we could see was the lower half of a Mallard, feet, but no wings. The bird had been separated in a relatively clean manner, I didn’t really look like it had been ripped apart, in any case. We did not look too closely, but there were not other obvious signs of damage on the remains we could see. The bird also seemed relatively fresh, though given the cool fall temperatures, I wouldn’t necessarily expect it to rot quickly.

Mallard remains observed a short distances off trail in Totem Park.

Save for a single feather that probably came off the main part we found, there were no other pieces of duck that we could find in the nearby area. It’s hard to imagine what scenario might have led to half a duck on the ground where we found it. Actually, it is mostly hard to imagine how the duck got separated from itself. The most plausible scenario I can come up with is that a human did it. Once cut in half, it is not too hard to come up with ways it might have ended up where we found it. Eagles sometimes drop food when being chased and are not able to find it again. Another possibility is that one of the many dogs that get walked in the park one could have found it along the river and moved it up into the woods.