A Wild Life

The first time I went down to the park today, it was mostly cloudy, but not raining like it had yesterday luckily, so I didn’t need to wear a coat over my hoodie.
There are a bunch of salmon by the hatchery now, some of them look really worn while others look fine. There are also tourists walking around, but there weren’t that many today that I saw.
There were a few that had stopped on the trail by the river and were taking pictures of something, I just figured it was an eagle or the fish, but I didn’t see it if it was an eagle. When they moved to let me pass, I saw that one looked as if he was taking pictures of the tree branch, but I didn’t think much of it.
Of course when I got past, another person asked me if I had seen the eagle. I’ve seen eagles before, so I wasn’t really all that interested in seeing another, but I told the truth and said no anyways and she pointed it out and it was right on a branch really close to the trail. It was right there, and I hadn’t seen it!
I was a bit shocked that it was right there and hadn’t flown away when I walked past, but I was glad it hadn’t and I got some photos of it.
It wasn’t the best lighting, but I felt kind of embarrassed about the idea of going back to get a better angle after I had just gone by without noticing it, so I just got the best I could with the lighting as it was then left.
I guess I should probably pay a bit more attention to where the tourists are looking next time…

Two weeks ago yesterday, dad dragged Connor and I all the way to the top of Verstovia. It was a nice day with a few clouds and it wasn’t too warm, but I needed to tie my hoodie around my waist so I didn’t overheat. I was the only one not wearing shorts, but I was wearing a T-shirt.
I brought along my camera along with my lunch ( a Peanutbutter and jelly sandwich and some broccoli) and water in a fannypack so I didn’t have to have a bunch of things banging around as I walked.
Connor was faster than both of us and beat us to the first view point where we briefly stopped for a break before continuing onwards, but he slowed down.
We also took a short break at the second view point, and I was pretty much halfway through my water after drinking some there. And we took another break at the top of the switchbacks on the ridge line and I nibbled on some broccoli and almost got bitten by a black and white mosquito, but I whacked it and it fell onto a plant leaf and stayed there for a bit.
There was a nice breeze some of the time as we were walking on the ridge line.
Somewhere along the way, close to picknick rock, for a reason I cant remember, dad challenged Connor to jog/sprint the rest of the way to the long staircase just before Picknick rock. Connor sort of did. But he stopped a few times.
When we made it to the staircase, I stopped more than once just before it and went pretty slowly along the way up until the end of it where I pretty much sprinted the rest of the way. That was a bit painful.
When we made it to Picknick rock, we ate our lunches and dad gave me some of his chips too after I asked for some! (I had not packed a big enough lunch for me, apparently.)
I looked over at the peak dreadingly a few times, and also watched a few people that were making their way up to the peak as well.
It was steep getting up to the shoulder, but there were plenty of plants to hold on to and there were also a few bugs buzzing around as well.
Once we got to the shoulder, it was cloudy/misty where we were heading and also kinda steep with very little trail to begin with (I wasn’t really bothered by that part), then it got really steep with loose rocks and some not great stepping places. One of which I stood at for a moment before having to really pull my up my leg to get on, and still almost slipped. (There wasn’t any great handholds there either)
Before that part, Connor had found a Bristletail on a rock, (which dad had been looking for some that were on a mountain) but we didn’t want to go back down so decided to look for them when we were heading back.
It was also cloudy at the top of the mountain, and also bigger than it looked from down on picknick rock.
Three other people were up there as well, two looked like they were a group while the other guy was on his own.
After I found a place to sit, (which was by dad) I got a bit colder, so I put my hoodie back on.
Dad gave me a few of his chips and grapes while we were there, and Connor sat a little ways away from us, but I think he also took a few chips.
The sun broke through the clouds at one point, but not for long, and the two people left, leaving just us and that one guy, who was not too far away from us.
(I forgot to mention, there were also a ton of flies, I even saw a fuzzy bee mimic pretty soon after we got to the top that wasn’t all that skittish and dad and I got pictures of it!)
Maybe halfway through our time there, I felt a hot pain on the underside of my arm by my wrist and jerked out my arm, grabbing onto the place where it had happened. At first I thought it had been on of those biting flies dad and I had seen once called Deerflies, but then I looked over and saw a wasp on the rock not too far away from me. I apparently had gotten stung.
I’m not certain how it got there, I didn’t hear it as I thought I would. Perhaps it was a ninja wasp. It must’ve gone up my sleeve and gotten somewhat stuck when I shifted and stung me to get out, or something like that. Either way, the wasp flew away a minute or two later, so it was probably fine, which was nice.
I cried a bit, probably from the shock. (I think I saw the one guy that was up there looking once) It didn’t really hurt bad, and hurt less as long as I kept my hand on it. It gained a red dot, which dad took a picture of, since it was my first sting and I took a picture of it later as well. It also swelled up a bit and felt somewhat bruised for a while and sensitive to touch. Otherwise, I was fine! And I’ve now had my first wasp sting… on the very top of a mountain. For some reason I find that slightly amusing.
I also still have a bit of the red there.
Eventually, the clouds cleared up enough to get a good view, but that was sort of on and off, so we had to scramble around a bit to get photos. (Connor and I also saw a Red-tailed hawk down below)
After that, we headed down and took a slightly different rout with more grass, which I honestly preferred to what I imagined going down the way we came up would’ve been like. Though, not long after we started down, dad realized he hadn’t started his track and went all the way back up. It wasn’t really a downside as I didn’t need to go back up with him, I just needed to wait, which I was fine with.
When we reached the shoulder again, we saw/met two woman one had (I think) a knee brace and they were wondering if it got any easier. In the end, the one without the knee brace continued onward while the other one waited on the shoulder.
The way down the shoulder was a bit steep, but not too bad.
By the time we got back, it was a little too late for me to get all my stuff done and go to the library like I wanted, but I was okay with that, there had been a nice view.

(I also forgot to say that we saw the fluffy bee mimic just before we headed down and I even got it on my finger and dad got some photos of it!)

This morning I went down to the park to see what birds were down there.

The for cast for today was 100% chance of rain, but it was just cloudy in the morning.

I got down to the park, the tide was coming in but it was still out a little way and there were still quite a few gulls down at the end of the park. I walked to the end of the park and started looking through the gulls; as I was looking through the gulls on the beach I saw a Caspian tern which is the first one I have seen this year in Sitka. For the most part I had looked through the rest of the gulls on the beach so I took some photos of the Caspian tern. I watched it for a bit, but eventually the tide came in far enough that the tern flew away. Just after the tern flew away I looked over at a small group of gulls that had been by the tern; at the edge of the group I saw a smaller paler gull, I took some photos of it. As I looked at it I thought it might be a Ring-billed gull (which are rare for this area) so I took some more photos of it and let my dad know that I thought it might be a Ring-billed gull. Eventually the tide came in far enough that it too flew away, so I walked the rest of the beach and looked at the other gulls but did not see any that stuck out to me. After that I walked the rest of the park then headed home.                                        Immature Ring-billed gull                                                            Caspian tern

Later last week I was down at the park walking the beach when I heard a loud rumble that I recognized as a air plane, but it seemed louder then the normal jets that we get here. As I watched I saw four US Navy 170 F/A-18 Super hornet strike fighters coming down and landing on our local airport. I found out later that they were aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt that was in Alaska waters, and had just come in to fuel up. I tried but could not find out why the USS Theodore Roosevelt was in Alaska waters; I found out that the ship was a aircraft carrier that was built in 1981-1984, but did not see it first action until 1991 during  operation Desert storm; but I was unable to find out why it was in Alaska waters.

Today Rowan went outside to get some greens for lunch, when she came shooting through the door and said she believed that there was an owl in the yard, so we got our cameras and went outside and tried to get some photos of it. I was able to get a couple photos of the Western-screech owl on the ground before it jumped behind a log and disappeared; dad went and took some photos of it behind the log but then it jumped into the bushes and disappeared again. We looked for it in the brush for a while, but did not find it so we gave up.

Later I headed down stairs and saw it sitting on a branch with its back towards me, so I got my camera and went outside. While I was out there I saw Rowan and Dad so I let them know that it was in the tree. We took some photos of it then I came inside.

Between the afternoon of August 06 and the morning of August 07 2018 the Golden eagle chick fledged. I went up to look at the chick with a friend but we did not see the chick in the nest. While we were watching for the adult and chick Golden eagle I glassed a couple of the surrounding mountains to see if I could see and Mountain goats and on Clarence Kramer I saw four Mountain goats, two kids and nannies. After a while of still not see the Golden eagle chick I glassed a far distant peak and saw three Mountain goats on it.

While we were up there we watched the adult Golden eagle fly to the nest and get stuff that looked like food out of it and then fly off with it. After a while we heard the chick but did not see it, we watched the adult go down by where we think the chick was and take some food to it.

Yesterday I was getting ready to head back home from my paper route when I got a text from dad that said there was a unusual sparrow out by whale park and a friend could get me if I wanted to go out and see the bird, so I got in contact with the person and I meet them down by the pet store and then we went out the road.

When we got out to whale park we walked up the road then turned up a drive way. Dad was already up there and had seen the bird—which turned out to be a Lark sparrow. The bird had moved around behind the so we made our way around behind the building and saw it moving around on the ground I took some photos of it. We watched it fly around a bit and a couple other people came up to see the bird. I watched the bird for a bit then head back home.

Today I went to the lake because someone told me they had heard a bird there they did not recognize so I walked over there and looked around. After I had been there for a little bit I heard a few things moving around the in the grass so I watched and eventually 5 Red-winged blackbirds flew up. I watched them for a bit and took some photos of them, then I headed home.    

Saturday Dad, Rowan and I went up to Blue lake and looked at the Golden eagle nest.

We went up to the dam look out and sat and ate our lunch in the sunshine. After we were done eating our lunch I saw an adult Golden eagle fly and perch in a tree by the nest, I took some photos of it and then we went and got read to hike up a hill to get to where we could get a better look at the nest.

It took a bit over an hour to get to the spot where we could see the nest. We got set up and watched the nest. The chick had gotten bigger since I was last up to that look out. There were a lot of flies up there that would fly around and land on us. A one time while we were there one of the adult Golden eagle flew by about fifty feet away.  We spent an hour or two up there before we headed back down.

Yesterday I was just getting done delivering my last paper when I looked over and saw an odd looking eagle in a tree over by a neighboring street, so I walked up and crossed over to the other street and walked down to about where the eagle was (which was by the transfer station). I looked at and took photos of the eagle and decided that it was a young bald eagle that was just very wet from the rain that we had been having. While I was standing there though a Brown bear walked out from behind a truck that was there to move the big trailers  that held the trash. It walked up the road a short ways then crossed to towards the brush on the other side of the little road. Since I was on foot I did not think it would be very safe for me stand there and watch the bear so I took a few photos of it and then walked back up the road and went home.

This morning I went up to Blue Lake with a friend to look at the Golden eagle nest.

Just as we were getting up to the look out where we could see the eagle nest I saw a eagle flying over that looked like one of the adult Golden eagles. I took a couple photos of it  and it was indeed one of the parents. It flew over towards Bear mountain and then I lost sight of it. We looked up at the nest and did not see either one of the chicks for a little while, but eventually one poked it’s head up. They had gotten quite a bit bigger then when I saw them a few weeks ago. They had quite a few dark feathers.

While we were watching the nest I looked over at Clarence Kramer mountain and saw three Mountain goats on the mountainside. It looked to be a mom and two kids (baby goats). I watched them for a bit then turned my attention back to the nest.

We were up there for about and hour or two but did not ever see the adults again.

Last night Grams, Grandpa, Rowan and I went down to a campground along Oxbow reservoir on the Oregon/Idaho border.

We got to the campground about 8:30 or 9:00 in the evening. After we got a camping spot picked and got our tent set up I got so of the fishing stuff and headed down to the river to start fishing for Catfish. I was getting my line and stuff ready when Grandpa came down with the rest of the stuff. Once I got my hook baited and the rest of the stuff was ready I casted out as far as I could, once the the stuff hit the water I let out a little bit of slack line so that stuff could get to the bottom with as little drifting as possible. As Grandpa was getting his stuff set up we saw what looked like a Catfish come out of the water fairly close to us, so once he had gotten everything ready he casted out a little way, just on the other side of a current stream that was running out in front of us.

Grandpa had gotten a stick and set his pole down on a stick while he got his second pole ready. While he was getting is second pole ready a fish bit and yanked the end of the pole of of the sand and then before Grandpa or I could get the pole, the pole took off into the river. Grandpa went after it but it got away.

I brought my line back in and casted over by where Grandpa had to see if I might be able to caught the fish and maybe the pole. after a bit I got a few bites and then caught about a 17″ Catfish. After that I casted back out there.

As it got later the swallows that had been flying around when we first got there went away and then some Common nighthawks came out and flew around by us for a bit then they also went away and then the bats came out and flew around for the rest of the time we were down there that evening.

A bit later after I had caught the first fish I got some more bites and eventually caught one of the fish, it was about 25″ long.

We fished some more Grandpa caught a couple of small Catfish on his other pole, I got a few more bites but we did not caught any more fish that evening. We stopped fishing about 12:30.

As I was reeling in my line for the last time that evening it felt like I had something on the end of my line. As I got the line in I saw that it was another line. Grandpa came over and realized that it was his line. We got the lines untangled and then he got the pole out of the water and reeled in the rest of his line. We thought at first there might be a fish on the end of the line but there wasn’t. We packed and head to camp.

At about 5:00 or 5:30 the next morning Grandpa and I got up and head down to go fishing.

After fishing for a bit I caught one Catfish that was about 26″ long. we fished for  while longer but did not caught any more fish. As we were cleaning the fish a Fish and Game Officer came down and checked our licences and Grandpa talked to him for a few minutes then he left. We fished for a little while long but did not caught any fish.

On the way back we stopped by a friends place and stayed and talked there for a but than we headed back to Nampa.

On the way back I saw a burrowing owl on a fence post by the road so we turned around and went back and Rowan and I were able to get a couple of photos of it before it flew away.                                                   Burrowing owl

Earlier this week I stopped by the lake on my way back from an appointment.

At the lake there were several Tree swallows, a few Mallards, a American wigeon, some Greater scaups, there was also a Canvasback and a Blue-winged teal. I got some photos of them. While I was still at the lake the Blue-winged teal flew off, but the Canvasback stayed there.

Yesterday I had gotten done with my paper route and was walking back home when I walked by Junk beach. I looked down to see what was on the beach. There wasn’t much, there were a couple Green-winged teal and Gull down at the edge of the water. I watched the gull and something seemed off. It looked all little bigger and bulkier then the Mew gulls that I normally see down there, but it did not look quite big enough to be a Thayer’s gull or something like that. I walked a road that went along that part of the beach and got out my camera. I took some photos of it and when I looked at my photos I realized that it was a Ring-billed gull. I texted a couple people and walked back up to the main road to keep an eye on it from there. A couple of people were able to see it, but it flew away before other people could get there. Dad had been on of the people that had been able to see it before it flew so after it flew off towards the park he went to check a couple of place to see if it had landed at any of those places. I walked home to take care of the photos I had taken of it. I had been home for a little while when I saw a had a text message that there was a Franklin’s gull in the channel. I biked over there. When I got there the people there had lost track of the Franklin’s gull , and had thought they might have seen the Ring-billed gull but people in a canoe went through the flock of gull and had scared it away before I got there. I stayed there for a while, I did fined the Franklin’s gull again, but I did not ever see the Ring-billed gull for sure.                                                           Canvasback                                                      Blue-winged teal                                                        Franklin’s gull                                                                   Ring-billed gull