Made a brief trip out the road today. Highlights include 4 Trumpeter Swans swimming up to the river’s edge at Starrigavan to see if we had any handouts. Also noticed 5 or more Gadwall – a fairly high number for Sitka in any season, but especially winter.

The view from Sea Mart’s parking lot can be pretty stunning – though it was fairly muted today. I suspect most people primarily think of the view to the west out over the sound with Mt. Edgecumbe rising above the lowlands of a distant Kruzof Island. While that is no doubt the more striking view, a look inland reveals Harbor Mountain looming above in a view that isn’t too shabby either.

This evening I took a photo of one of the moths we accumulated last summer/fall.

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Thinking there might be handouts, Trumpeter Swans approach fairly close.

Thinking there might be handouts, Trumpeter Swans approach fairly close.

Mt. Edgecumbe seen from Sea Mart parking lot.

Mt. Edgecumbe seen from Sea Mart parking lot.

Harbor Mountain seen from Sea Mart Parking lot.

Variable Girdle (Enypia venata) collected Summer 2010.

A juvenile gull tries for scraps from a feeding Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris). Observed from Sea Mart parking lot.

Early in January I noticed a Sea Otter feeding in the kelp patch right off the Sea Mart Parking lot. The juvenile gull pictured here followed it around pretty closely, presumably hoping to grab a scrap or two from what the otter was eating. Unfortunately, the light and distance were such that I could not make out what the otter was eating, but I imagine it was some sort of echinoderm or mollusc. While I was watching, it didn’t appear that the gull managed to get anything and it eventually drifted away from the otter.

A juvenile gull tries for scraps from a feeding Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris). Observed from Sea Mart parking lot.