I was up before 6 this morning and took a walk down to O’Connell Bridge. It was enjoyable to take some long-exposure photographs in the predawn light.

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The sky is just starting to lighten behond the mountains to the east.

A troller headed out leaves an odd pattern of light trails behind it in this long exposure.

The Sisters are in Silhouette behind the sodium vapor lights casting their yellow glow over the boats in Crescent Harbor.

City lights illuminate O'Connell bridge with Mt. Edgecumbe in the background.

City lights illuminate O'Connell bridge with Mt. Edgecumbe in the background.

O'Connell Bridge before dawn.

A bright glitter path illuminates the waters of Sitka Sound below a nearly moon.

Got out on a late afternoon hike to Herring Cove Trail. Trail was fairly icy, but doable.

Most active were the Pine Siskins – they were chattering from the trees to my east and southeast. They’re fairly aggressive and noisy at most times, but they seem to be spreading out a bit – perhaps they’re starting to separate into breeding pairs. The juncos were also chittering amongst themselves, with an occasional trilled abbreviated song thrown in. They were also mostly to my east and southeast, though lower down in the trees. I saw them flying over the house to south of me as well. Chestnut-backed Chickadees were regular, but less frequently calling, I’m not sure if they were just passing back and forth, actively feeding, or something else. A couple of times down the hill a little further off to the east, I heard a Winter Wren singing. Varied Thrushes gave a few short-quiet buzzing-calls, though mostly they were quiet (I did see one fly up to an upper tree branch when I started walking back to the house).

There were ravens calling in the further distance, and also at least one raven (possibly more) flying over the area repeatedly (though not in any pattern I noticed) making a call I find reminiscent of a shorebird. It’s kind of a rapid “tu-tu-tu-tu” or something like that. I’ve heard them make it in the past, though right now I can’t remember if it was only in the spring time or not. I did see a second raven carrying what appeared to be nesting material yesterday – so I’m curious if the call is something related to courtship/breeding.

When I first sat down at the tree I didn’t notice any sapsucker wells. This seemed odd, since the warmth of this location seemed like a good prospect to induce sap flow. It did not take much specific looking to find several wells tapped in the tree – most of them closer to the base, almost even into where the duff was covering the start of the roots. Most of the wells looked pretty dry, but I did notice more than one with small beads of sap starting to form.

At one point during my sit, I heard a squirrel alarm from the trees ESE of me, then some scurrying in the brush and leaves a short distance directly to my east. I looked over and startled a squirrel that had come down from the trees and started toward me along the ground. It jumped back to the nearest tree, climbed up to get a better look at me and then proceeded to take a detour, jumping from branch to branch and crawling along above my head. A short time a later, a second squirrel did the same thing, though this one took some time to check me out further from the trunk directly above my head. It came towards me head-first, then backed up, shifted a little bit to the side, seemingly trying to figure out who/what I was. After a few moments, it must have decided I was no longer interesting, as it returned to its former quest of chasing the first squirrel (or so it seemed to me). A few minutes later they both came running back toward the direction they had come from, with one in close pursuit of the other.

A substantial bit of melting occurred with ice on the ground through the day, but as soon as the sun was down near the horizon, it started to freeze up and become quite slippery. I actually found it kind of fun to slide down/along icy patches, but it can be treacherous.

Walking down along the harbor about 45 minutes after sunset, I enjoyed the thumbnail crescent of the moon with a bright Jupiter (I think) nearby. The lingering colors of the sunset were reflected in the harbor’s calm waters along with the harbor lights now starting to turn on. I noticed the silhouette of a Great Blue Heron standing at the water’s edge – as we approached, it’s head smoothly turned so it could keep an eye on us; suddenly twisting rapidly to look with the other eye when we had walked past it. I stopped briefly to look at it and see if it would fly off, but apparently that was not enough of a break from accepted human behavior to make it decide to move locations.

Pictures from a walk to Totem Park.

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Panoramic view of Sage Beach

The line between fresh snow and bare beach clearly marks the extent of the previous high tide.

Waves of the falling tide shaped these miniature ridges in the sand.

Waves of the falling tide shaped these miniature ridges in the sand.

Waves of the falling tide shaped these miniature ridges in the sand.

I happened to notice this Bald Eagle perched in a tree as the moon was rising, and was lucky enough to be able to find a place where I could get them together.

Last week Melissa came home and suggested I go take a look at the moon rising behind the mountains. I was a little reluctant, and I had been working on something and figured the moon rises fast enough, I would probably miss the most interesting part. In the end, I decided I could go out to check it out, and I was not sorry I did.

She said the place she saw it best was down near the tennis courts in the greenbelt near Crescent Harbor. It only took me a minute to get down there with my camera and was able to see the moon. The color she had described was gone, as I suspected, but it was still nice to see the moon rising along the lower slopes of Verstovia. It was not as photogenic as I might have preferred, due to powerlines and such intruding into the image. However, while I was watching, I happened to spy a Bald Eagle perched in a distant tree that was near enough in alignment to the moon that I thought I might be able to compose an image with both.

I made my way up the campus lawn and was able to get the eagle and the moon together. I was not able to line them up in quite the way I had hoped and took a lot of pictures hoping they turned out reasonably sharp with the eagle in profile (it periodically moved its head, but most of the time it was facing me, so the clear outline of its beak was not there). In the end, I kept six shots, and felt fortunate to have the opportunity to photograph this scene.

I happened to notice this Bald Eagle perched in a tree as the moon was rising, and was lucky enough to be able to find a place where I could get them together.

I happened to notice this Bald Eagle perched in a tree as the moon was rising, and was lucky enough to be able to find a place where I could get them together.

I happened to notice this Bald Eagle perched in a tree as the moon was rising, and was lucky enough to be able to find a place where I could get them together.

I happened to notice this Bald Eagle perched in a tree as the moon was rising, and was lucky enough to be able to find a place where I could get them together.