A Wild Life

Today when I went down to the park for the second time, it was cloudy and it started snowing a little bit just before I got to the park. It was also windy.
When I was out on the breakwater, I saw some sea gulls, a few crows and a merganser.
When I was nearing the battle site bench, I saw a squirrel eating a pinecone on a branch behind a tree and attempted to sneak up on it, but it saw me and ran farther up the tree.
When I was at the battle site bench, the snow was more like rain and I turned myself so it wouldn’t be blowing into my face while I looked out at the beach. On the beach, I saw a few sea gulls and crows.
When I was on the side trail just before the trail by the river, I saw a few ravens out on the beach.
When I was on the trail by the river, I heard a dipper and later on I saw the dipper on a rock on the other side of the river.
I also saw a river otter in the river while I was walking. When it saw me, it dove under the water and I was able to see it swimming for a little bit, which I thought was cool.
When I was on my way back home, I saw some pine siskins, juncos and a song sparrow in someone’s yard.

Today when I went down to the park it was cloudy and a bit moist on the ground. There were a bunch of juncos and pine siskins out at our feeder as well.
When I was out on the breakwater, I saw a few sea gulls and buffleheads.
When I was in the park, about halfway to the battle site bench, I saw that there were a few sea gull feathers on the ground and I wondered if a eagle had eaten a sea gull in a tree nearby at some point in time.
When I was out at the battle site bench, there was a small group of sea gulls out at the edge of the beach by the water.
When I was on the small side trail just before the trail by the river, I saw a few sea gulls out in the water.
When I was on the trail by the river, I saw some mallards and a couple of mergansers on the other side of the river sleeping on the grass.
When I was near the foot bridge, I saw one female merganser and heard a dipper.
On my way back home, I saw and heard an eagle up in a tree.

Today when I went down to the park in the morning, it had rained a little bit so most of the snow had turned to slush.
I did my best to keep my feet dry, as I was wearing shoes like I normally do, but they got a little bit wet anyways.
The side walks where it had been plowed and in the forest where it didn’t get that much snow because of the branches, were the places were there was less slush.
When I was by the science center, I looked up at the Sheldon Jackson campus, where just a little before I had seen some people sledding. Up there it looked like a few people were making a large snowball.
It started to snow briefly before I got into the forest, but it was done before I got there.
On the trail by the river, there were two swans, a bunch of sleeping mallards and a male Green Winged Teal on the other side of the river. The swans were on the water, while the mallards and teal were on the grass by the edge of the water.
When I was by the campus on my way back, I didn’t see anyone up there like I had on my way to the park.

These are the highlights from the 2017 birding season in Sitka.  It was my best year for birds, with a total of 149 birds photographed in 2017. Of which 15 were new for my Alaska state bird list. I now have 185 on my Alaska list, it’s not the 200 I was hoping to have by the end of the year but it’s still pretty good.

Western-Screech Owl

On March 8, dad, Rowan and I went out to Starrigavan with a spotlight I had just gotten. We drove down a logging road and parked in a little parking lot. We whistled for the owls to see if any would respond. After a short time we heard a couple respond, and after a while of looking for them we found one and took some photos of it.

Virginia Rail

On March 11, I got up and headed to the upper end of Swan Lake where a Virginia rail- that had been caught by a cat but then released- was hanging out. I had been going up there and looking for it for almost a week. I had seen it pretty much every time I had gone, but I was unable to get any photos of it. This time I was prepared to sit and wait for it for along time. Thankfully I only need to wait for 10 minutes before it showed up and I was able to get some photos of it.

Iceland Gull (kumlieni)

On April 19, I went down to the park and looked through the gulls and was able to find a Iceland gull (kumlieni) in amongst all the Iceland gull (thayeri).

Violet-Green Swallow

On May 2, I got a text from dad saying that there was a Cliff swallow down at Swan Lake. I got ready and went down there. When I got down there I saw a Violet-Green swallow, and got some photos of it.

Cliff Swallow

On May 2, I went down to the lake because dad had sent me a text saying that there was a Cliff swallow at the lake. I went down there and got some photos of it.

Swainson’s Hawk

On May 3, I went down to the lake to see if the rare swallows that had been down there the day before were still down there. When I got there I saw the swallows that I was looking for. While I was taking photos of the swallows I noticed a raptor that looked funny, circling over the tops of the trees on the other side of the lake. I took some photos of it then texted dad. When I got home I looked it up in the bird book. I decided it looked most like a Swainson’s hawk but those were rare for the state, and I had not gotten very good photos of it. I put the photos up on inaturalist and a lot of people- that had more experience with Swainson’s hawks- agreed that it was a Swainson’s hawk.

Pacific Golden Plover

On May 6, I went down to the park, and was told that there were some Golden plovers out at the end of the park. I went out there and got some photos of them I let dad know, and when I got back I looked in the book and saw that they were Pacific Golden Plovers.

Willow Ptarmigan

On May 16, I went up the backside of Verstovia with a friend, while we were up there I saw my first Willow Ptarmigan.

Western Wood-Pewee

On August 2, dad, Rowan and I went up to picnic rock on Verstovia. While we were up there I noticed a flycatcher on the top of one of the trees up there. I  told dad and I took some photos of it. When I got home I saw that it was a Western Wood-pewee.

Rock Ptarmigan

On September 2, dad, Rowan and I went up Bear Mountain. While we were up there I saw some Rock Ptarmigan. It was my favorite hike of the year!

Vaux’s Swift

On September 5, I was on my way down to the Park when I looked up and saw some swifts flying over head. I got my camera out and took some photos of them. When I got home I saw that they were Vaux’s Swifts.

Western Tanager

On September 18, I was fishing for salmon, when dad stopped by and told me that there was a Western Tanager down the road. I packed up headed down the road and looked for it. I found it shortly after I got there and got some photos of it.

Dusky Thrush

On December 1, I was sitting on the porch waiting for a rat, when I got a text from dad saying there was a funny looking bird down at Crescent harbor. Rowan and I went down there and saw the bird and took some photos of it. It turned out to be a Dusky Thrush. It hung around that area for about a week.

Ruddy Duck

On December 14, I went down to the lake to try and get better photos of the Ruddy Duck I had found the day before. It was down there and I was able to get better photos.

Purple Finch

On December 18, I was walking the neighborhoods around place on my way to the park, when I saw a Purple finch. There had been one hanging around the neighborhoods for about a month, I had seen it a couple of times but this time got my best photos of it.

Today when I went down to the park, it was cloudy and luckily, not cold. It only rained a little bit when I was walking around, so I didn’t get too wet, which was nice.
When I went out onto the breakwater, an eagle that had been eating something on one of the poles few to a pole nearby but a bit farther away from me. When it flew, it looked like a bit of what it had been eating fell into the water below. I wondered what it was eating, it looked to me like part of a fish gill or something like that.
I also saw a large group of ducks out on the water by the beach and when I was walking back down the breakwater, a seagull flew across close by.
When I was in the park, I stopped briefly at the battle site bench and looked out at the water, there wasn’t much out there.
When I was nearing the trail by the river, I saw one raven out in the field with a totem pole out in the middle.
When I was at the beginning of the trail by the river, I saw a bunch of ducks farther up on the other side of the river, along with a few mergansers. It looked like a few of the ducks were swimming over the the side I was on though.
When I got closer to the end of the trail by the river, I saw that the ducks did swim all the way over to my side and there were two swans over there to.
On my back home by sage beach, there were a whole bunch of Black Turnstones on sage rock. I wondered if they had been there before and I just hadn’t noticed them. I wouldn’t have been surprised if that was the case.

Earlier this week I was on my way to the park when I noticed a gull that had white wing tips, flying around so I watched where it went then I walked towards it. I found it sitting at the edge of a dock. I walked down onto the dock and took some photos of it and when I got home I decided that it was a Glaucous gull.

Later in the week I walked down to the lake to see what was down there. It was getting dark but when I got down there I looked out on the lake and saw a few scaups and I also saw a duck that looked like a Ruddy duck. I got my camera out and took some photos of it but since it was dark my photos where not very good. They were good enough to tell what it was but that was it.

The next day I went back down there and refound it and got better photos of it.

Just before I was going to write this blog I got a report that the Purple finch was seen in our neighborhood again so I went and found it and took some photos of it.

Connor had started cleaning and organizing his room a few days ago, and today he was almost done. So last night I decided that I would clean my room a little bit, starting with a few drawers.
In the morning about a half an hour before my outside time, I pulled out all the stuff in the two bottom drawers of my dresser where I put my clothes. There was a lot of paper stuff, but I didn’t look through it until after my outside time.
When I started looking through it, there were lots of old drawings, and there were also papers that I didn’t know why I had them. There were also a few books, a bag of rocks, a bag of shells, a few folders, a bag of some of Connor’s old school stuff, and a few other things.
After I organized the stuff, I put some of it back into one of the drawers, while some of it is still on the floor.
Sometime around the time I started pulling stuff out of a different drawer, Connor started working on all the stuff he’d pulled out from underneath his bed. Including, stuffies, old clothes, a pair of slippers, paper, rolls of electrician’s tape, socks and some other things. It made a fairly big pile.
Back in my room, the new stuff on the floor wasn’t mostly paper. There were some plastic toy animals pencils and a few other things.
Before I cleaned up all the stuff, I moved some of the things that were cluttering up my bed and the top of the dresser by my bed into the the newly cleaned drawer in a more organized way.
So now I have some stuff on the floor, but my bed looks cleaner! Hopefully I’ll have it all cleaned up by the end of next week.

It has been pretty warm this week. But today when I went down to the park, it was a bit colder and it was raining and the wind also made it seem colder.
When I was out on the break water, I saw some mergansers on the water on the harbor side. I also saw a couple mergansers, a few sea gulls and a kingfisher on the science center side of the park.
As I was walking past where sage rock was, I heard a great blue heron up in the trees across the road somewhere. I looked a little bit for it, but I wasn’t able to see it.
As I was walking through the park, probably about halfway to the battle side bench, I heard something that sort of reminded of a loon, but when I looked all I saw was an eagle flying by.
When I was out at the battle site bench, I saw some sea gulls and crows. The crows were flying up and dropping things on the ground out by the water, I figured what they were dropping were shells of some sort.
When I was on the trail near the trail by the river, I saw a few more sea gulls and crows. I was also more windy there.
When I was at the the trail by the river, I saw some ducks and mergansers on the water. I also saw a few wigeons and they few off as I walked by, then they few around and landed farther up the river.
As I was on my way back home, I saw a few harlequins out on the water.
Why was it more windy on that small side trail?
Why did the wigeons fly around?
Why was the great blue heron in the trees?

Yesterday morning I got up and headed down to the park.

It was sunny but cold, there was a heavy frost on the ground and a bit of black ice in places.

I walked down to the harbor and looked around out on the breakwater. I looked around to see if the  Red-throated loons, that I had seen for two days in a row, were down there. I did not see them but when I was just getting ready to leave I turned around and I was a loon swimming down the harbor towards me. I looked through my binoculars and saw that it was a Red-throated loon so I got my camera out and took some photos of it and watched it for a while. After I was done watching it I walked back and head down to the park.

I walked through the park not really seeing anything out over the ordinary. Just as I was getting to the battle site bench I was another Red-throated loon close to shore. So I stopped and took some pictures of it for a bit then I continued around the park.

As I got the estuary I saw there were a lot of ducks there so I stopped to look and see if there were any there that I did not expect to see. I saw One Ring-necked duck which is more of a fresh water duck but I have seen them on salt water a few times. I also saw the female Eurasian wigeon that has been hanging out down there. After that I walked home.

After we had lunch dad went down to the harbor to do something and I was sitting watching the birds in our yard when I got a text from him saying that there was a funny looking bird at the harbor. So I got my stuff and Rowan got ready and we headed down there to see what it was .

We got down to the harbor and dad told us the bird was by the shelter so we that way. As we were getting to the shelter I saw dad a few other people on the dock looking at something in the bushes by the sidewalk, but I couldn’t see what it was so I took Rowan and we did a big loop around the bushes so that we were less likely to scare the bird away. We walked down the ramp and onto the dock.

We walked over and  I asked where the bird was one of the people that were there said that it was behind a rose bushes that was there. I using my binoculars I looked around the rose bush and sure enough I saw movement and there was a bird that looked a bit like a thrush hopping around under the rose bush. I got my camera out and got some pictures of it. I thought it looked a bit like a Dusky Thrush, which is an Asian thrush, but I have only ever seen pictures of them so I was not sure. While we were there dad took a picture of his picture of the bird and sent it to someone that had bit more experience with Asian birds. The person got back to dad a few minutes later and said that it was a Dusky Thrush. We watched the thrush hop up into the rose bush and pull apart the rose hips and eat them.

Over the next hour or two several people showed up to see this very rare Asian thrush.

This morning I got up and  went to the park, I didn’t see the Red-throated loon but I did see the Eurasian wigeon.

I walked along the harbor to look for the Dusky Thrush. It took me a few minutes before I found it. I watched it for a bit and talked to a few other people that showed up to look for it,  then it flew away so I walked over to the airport.

I didn’t see anything at the airport so I walked back to see if the Dusky Thrush had comeback and it had so I stopped and took some more photos of it. While I watched it it vocalized some times when it flew mainly when it got scared or was getting chased by a crow (which happened a couple of times). AS it was getting a bit later I decided to head home. Red-throated loon   Dusky Thrush

I started my walk late. I had chosen to wait as long as I could before going. I sort of regretted that now.
Dark was falling and while it was decently bright outside of the park, in the forest there was only dim lighting. It was wet from recent rain and droplets of water fell from the trees and made noises when they hit the ground.
Moment’s after I entered the forest, I was certain my heart rate had increased. It was hard to see details and when I walked pass the two trails that lead to the other side of the loop, I looked down them, a fear of seeing someone or something just standing there, watching on the other side. But no one was there.
As I approached where the split in the trail was, pale logs and branches appeared like eerie ghosts in the dim light. I was tempted to exit out a different path onto the beach where it was brighter, but I chose not to.
I stood out at the battle side bench for a few moments, glancing back into the dark forest and then continuing on back into it.
Pale moths fluttered around the trail, or maybe they were catisflies, I caught one to be sure. They were moths. I wondered why they were out in the cold.
The lighting on the trail by the river was only a short relief, ducks mere shadows on the river,and then I was back into the darkness.
It was now completely dark, hard to even see the trail. I started hearing what sounded like footsteps behind me, my heart rate increased once again. I stopped. They stopped. I continued going, wishing I’d brought a light, or better yet, gone sooner.
All through the rest of my walk in the park, I was tense, waiting for something to come out. The ravens were agitatedly crowing and the trees creaked unnerving me into going faster.
Near the bridge, light shined, someone was coming, they passed over the bridge and were out of sight before I got there. They had been smart bringing a light.
As I neared the end of the forest, it had started to rain and the wind started blowing harder. The trees creaked even more, I was worried they might fall on me. The streetlight from the parking lot shown through the trees, lighting up the path and causing distinct shadows to appear. I was almost there.
A minute later, I was out and on my way back home. Walking under the streetlights where things weren’t so dark and frightening.
**** * *
As a side note for what actually happened today that was interesting and sort of cool. I saw someone feeding a raven out of his hand. The raven was sitting on a bench and he was holding out his hand and the raven was eating something out of it. He had a dog that was eating something on the ground and there was also another raven nearby. They didn’t even fly off when I walked past!