"Frapping"
Or maybe Frappe (needs an accent mark). There was a phrase instead of just one word for today, but I'm afraid its completely gone from my overworked brain. Frapping refers to wrapping around something (either keel, stringer or rib junction) to help secure the lashing. The keel was attached to the ribs using a continuous box tie (it looked like outlining the short ends of a rectangle) from the bow to the stern of the kayak. We used the same technique to atach the stringers to the ribs at the turn of the hull. We attached (8" spaced brads) a spacer piece on the upper edge of the gunnel to give the boat a more pleasing shape and keep the skin off the ribs (abrasion ?). Only one nail went seriously astray (I pounded it in, but it adds to the amateur appearance of the workmanship). I was relieved when I wasn't the only one to do this trick. I have to admit, I was also relieved to see at least one other person removing a few mis-hammered nails. Not just misery loves company.
The bow stem and stern post were attached to the gunnels with lashing (v-shaped) as was a narrow deck beam that formed the v-shape in the aft deck. 2 deck beams were placed just astern of where the seat will be placed. These were attached to either side of center with pegs. I managed to drill through the wood on one of these, again I was happy to not be alone in this. Just use plenty of glue was the cure.
At one point in the morning we place the kayaks on the floor and climbed in to see if one of the extra ribs needed to be removed. I was fine with the placement of the ribs and my heels, but Brian decided to remove one of mine (maybe 6?) anyway to keep some uniformity and in case I had trouble reaching my foot pedals. Am I really that much smaller than the rest of the people on the planet?
The most troubling thing again was the block planer, although I might finally have a miniscule amount of skill with the job. We faired (sp?) in the bow and stern pieces to join with the keel, okay I had some help. Earlier we used the block planer to fair the piece that was added to keep the skin off the gunnels and ribs. For some reason or other I found that task troublesome.
Keith, Sam and I drilled the holes for the foot pedal brackets while Scott and Jonathon drilled holes for some other unknown purpose.
Brian and Jackie sanded and steamed each combing to bend a swoop into it (aesthetic purpose). The combings were steamed for 15 minutes and a 1 X 2 piece of cedar was clamped over it to achieve the bend. The were left clamped overnight. I believe that Scott had to pound a few of my nails in further as I was lacking in some necessary brute force yesterday.
Again I'm sure that I've forgotten something, maybe Scott's photos will help jog my memory.
Since there was some waiting around today (hard to imagine when) we filled in with lessons on fire starting with a bow drill, thanks to Jonathon. I have a ways to go in my skills, hopefully we can invent some time tomorrow.
This morning there were orange crowned, townsends, and wilson's warblers, varied thrush, robins, a winter wren and hummingbirds in the garden visible from the computer. All seemed to be eating madly away in the garden. One townsends' and one varied thrush seemed to be juveniles.
We did our last marbled murrelet count this evening between 8:30 and 9:30. We saw a total of about 168 birds heading in and 132 going out. How many were duplicates, I don't have any idea. There were also rhinoceros auklets, common murres, 2 pigeon guillemots and mew gulls.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
"feel my edges"
Another phrase that doesn't convey alot of information about the construction processes of day three, but definitely alot about the mood. The humor has sunk to new lows, nothing like being tired to make this particular group silly. Much better than cranky. Todays phrase comes from the amount of planing that has been done and the insecurity about adequacy of planing. I think that we all now have it figured out.
Today we steamed, bent and attached the ribs and worked on the combing. The combing was drilled (1/16) and nailed every two inches. This was relatively straightforward except that the shape made it a bit of a challenge to find a suitably sturdy surface that we could hang the combing on. That done we proceeded to randomly select 19 ribs, pick through for flaws and cut them to the correct length. I got lucky this time and had a pretty good set of ribs for my boat. Added another new tool to the mix; a joiner. Probably should have been more nervous about this tool, since I was told that it causes more injuries than the others that we have used, but it seemed okay. We used it to thin the tenons to ease the fit into the mortises. The ribs from each boat were put in the steam box for eight minutes. We started with the first boat by putting a rib in every minute until the steam box was full, then once the first rib was ready added a new rib at the end so that there was a continuous supply (on 1 minute intervals) of ready ribs until the last boat was finished. The first three ribs in each boat were bent in a v-shape and Brian did these on each boat, he let the boat builder do the middle ribs, then he took over again at the end. Each rib is small enough that it only stays flexible for a very short period, so we had to work very fast. After each rib came out of the box it was laid under a leather strap and bent very quickly with steady pressure. It took alot of wrist and hand strength, my left hand was not quite strong enough for the task of bending the ends, but it worked out alright with some assistance. Scott, Keith and I were fortunate and didn't have any cracked ribs, but Jonathon's boat had 4 break and Sam's 2. Luck of the draw on the rib stock.
We drilled (1/8) and pegged ribs 1,3, 9, 12 and 16 through the tenon then set the keel. Some major tweeking occured with most boats to get the keel straight. Sam and Keith's boats had some ribs moved around and Scott and my boat had to have ribs heated up to re-shape them.
The last bit today was shaping the stern and bow posts (?) with the deadly bandsaw and the benign japanese saw. Definitely punchy by the end of the day again, 8am to 6:30pm is a long day in a shop. The boats are beautiful. I'm feeling rather grateful for the opportunity to build one. The option for internal boat grafitti is probably coming to a close, I'd like to take advantage of the gunnels as a writing surface, but am not quite settled on what to write. A good limerick ?
More marbled murrelets (8) on the way home. Roughly a third of the birds I see in the evening have fish in their bills.
Another phrase that doesn't convey alot of information about the construction processes of day three, but definitely alot about the mood. The humor has sunk to new lows, nothing like being tired to make this particular group silly. Much better than cranky. Todays phrase comes from the amount of planing that has been done and the insecurity about adequacy of planing. I think that we all now have it figured out.
Today we steamed, bent and attached the ribs and worked on the combing. The combing was drilled (1/16) and nailed every two inches. This was relatively straightforward except that the shape made it a bit of a challenge to find a suitably sturdy surface that we could hang the combing on. That done we proceeded to randomly select 19 ribs, pick through for flaws and cut them to the correct length. I got lucky this time and had a pretty good set of ribs for my boat. Added another new tool to the mix; a joiner. Probably should have been more nervous about this tool, since I was told that it causes more injuries than the others that we have used, but it seemed okay. We used it to thin the tenons to ease the fit into the mortises. The ribs from each boat were put in the steam box for eight minutes. We started with the first boat by putting a rib in every minute until the steam box was full, then once the first rib was ready added a new rib at the end so that there was a continuous supply (on 1 minute intervals) of ready ribs until the last boat was finished. The first three ribs in each boat were bent in a v-shape and Brian did these on each boat, he let the boat builder do the middle ribs, then he took over again at the end. Each rib is small enough that it only stays flexible for a very short period, so we had to work very fast. After each rib came out of the box it was laid under a leather strap and bent very quickly with steady pressure. It took alot of wrist and hand strength, my left hand was not quite strong enough for the task of bending the ends, but it worked out alright with some assistance. Scott, Keith and I were fortunate and didn't have any cracked ribs, but Jonathon's boat had 4 break and Sam's 2. Luck of the draw on the rib stock.
We drilled (1/8) and pegged ribs 1,3, 9, 12 and 16 through the tenon then set the keel. Some major tweeking occured with most boats to get the keel straight. Sam and Keith's boats had some ribs moved around and Scott and my boat had to have ribs heated up to re-shape them.
The last bit today was shaping the stern and bow posts (?) with the deadly bandsaw and the benign japanese saw. Definitely punchy by the end of the day again, 8am to 6:30pm is a long day in a shop. The boats are beautiful. I'm feeling rather grateful for the opportunity to build one. The option for internal boat grafitti is probably coming to a close, I'd like to take advantage of the gunnels as a writing surface, but am not quite settled on what to write. A good limerick ?
More marbled murrelets (8) on the way home. Roughly a third of the birds I see in the evening have fish in their bills.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
" Screwing & Choke and Chuck"
The last two days have been largely spent in the somewhat dark hangar at UAS taking part in a skin-on-frame kayak building class. Total lack of articulate speech could be related to the long work day or perhaps the half or so of a beer necessary to quench the thirst of a dusty day in the shop.
Friday Keith and Sam and I worked with Brian doing some prep work. Sounds simple enough, but entails some training for those of us less familiar with plunge routers , slick planes, band, jig and chop saws. Let's say, prep work was interesting and a little initimidating for me. Fortunately it was easier to actually do than it was to think about doing. I get a little worried about screwing up or maybe getting sucked into the alluring blade of a bandsaw. Amazingly, neither unfortunate event occured.
First thing in the morning, Keith and I each built a steam box for bending ribs. Relatively painless... next I screwed the gunnels together in pairs so that we could cut mortises for the deck beams and ribs. This is when the day acquired the word of the day and the subject of the mornings running joke "screwing".
The plunge router was a little more intimidating , dusty and noisy than the cordless drill. The jigs that Brian had made the 45 degree mortise cuts (deck beams) possible, despite how improbable it seemed that I could accomplish my share of this task. Scary, but quite fun when it was accomplished. We also cut the mortises for the ribs with a plunge cutter, actually we did this before the deck beams as it was a more suitable task for training being that it was a straight cut. We seperated each pair of gunnels and laid out the the shop for class with each set of gunnels and other pieces of wood on a pair of sawhorses. I was toast.
Today would have been more appropriately called "deck beams", but "choke and chuck" supplied more humor. We set up the form of the boat with forms and cam straps so that we could attach the deck beams at the end of the day. We used a square form at each end to hold the ends of the gunnels together then drilled a hole and slashed the ends together with coated nylon. With some imagination the forms looked like boats. The rest of the day was taken up with shaping the deck beams. The critical pieces of this were cutting the tenons with japanese saws and chisels and shaping the bottom of each beam with the bandsaw of death. The tenons were all located on the bottom of the deck beams. Again the technique of relatively painless, but scary because if you cut to far, you had to re-build the deck beam. Fortunately, no mishaps. The bandsaw bit was a little wild because it involved reaching your arm across the bandsaw and pull the long deck beams through the blade. I used a push tool to help this along, as pulling across wasn't an easy reach. Next Keith and Scott routered each deck beams to remove the sharp edges and Brian sanded the bottom. The beams were ready to go in the kayaks about 5pm. We slacked up on the cam straps and starting at an end we spread the gunnels apart just enough to ease the tenons into the mortises. We drilled through the top of the gunnel into each tenon and inserted a small dowel to hold it. Lastly we drilled holes at 45 degree angles from each end of the deck beam through the gunnel and inserted another dowel. Fortunately for my pride the skin of the boat will cover up alot of carpentery inadequacies. At the end of the day, we had to use alot less imagination to conjure boats out of the wood.
12 marbled murrelets on the way home. 1 obvious juvenile, 3 with fish.
The last two days have been largely spent in the somewhat dark hangar at UAS taking part in a skin-on-frame kayak building class. Total lack of articulate speech could be related to the long work day or perhaps the half or so of a beer necessary to quench the thirst of a dusty day in the shop.
Friday Keith and Sam and I worked with Brian doing some prep work. Sounds simple enough, but entails some training for those of us less familiar with plunge routers , slick planes, band, jig and chop saws. Let's say, prep work was interesting and a little initimidating for me. Fortunately it was easier to actually do than it was to think about doing. I get a little worried about screwing up or maybe getting sucked into the alluring blade of a bandsaw. Amazingly, neither unfortunate event occured.
First thing in the morning, Keith and I each built a steam box for bending ribs. Relatively painless... next I screwed the gunnels together in pairs so that we could cut mortises for the deck beams and ribs. This is when the day acquired the word of the day and the subject of the mornings running joke "screwing".
The plunge router was a little more intimidating , dusty and noisy than the cordless drill. The jigs that Brian had made the 45 degree mortise cuts (deck beams) possible, despite how improbable it seemed that I could accomplish my share of this task. Scary, but quite fun when it was accomplished. We also cut the mortises for the ribs with a plunge cutter, actually we did this before the deck beams as it was a more suitable task for training being that it was a straight cut. We seperated each pair of gunnels and laid out the the shop for class with each set of gunnels and other pieces of wood on a pair of sawhorses. I was toast.
Today would have been more appropriately called "deck beams", but "choke and chuck" supplied more humor. We set up the form of the boat with forms and cam straps so that we could attach the deck beams at the end of the day. We used a square form at each end to hold the ends of the gunnels together then drilled a hole and slashed the ends together with coated nylon. With some imagination the forms looked like boats. The rest of the day was taken up with shaping the deck beams. The critical pieces of this were cutting the tenons with japanese saws and chisels and shaping the bottom of each beam with the bandsaw of death. The tenons were all located on the bottom of the deck beams. Again the technique of relatively painless, but scary because if you cut to far, you had to re-build the deck beam. Fortunately, no mishaps. The bandsaw bit was a little wild because it involved reaching your arm across the bandsaw and pull the long deck beams through the blade. I used a push tool to help this along, as pulling across wasn't an easy reach. Next Keith and Scott routered each deck beams to remove the sharp edges and Brian sanded the bottom. The beams were ready to go in the kayaks about 5pm. We slacked up on the cam straps and starting at an end we spread the gunnels apart just enough to ease the tenons into the mortises. We drilled through the top of the gunnel into each tenon and inserted a small dowel to hold it. Lastly we drilled holes at 45 degree angles from each end of the deck beam through the gunnel and inserted another dowel. Fortunately for my pride the skin of the boat will cover up alot of carpentery inadequacies. At the end of the day, we had to use alot less imagination to conjure boats out of the wood.
12 marbled murrelets on the way home. 1 obvious juvenile, 3 with fish.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Yesterday morning I was finally able to start sampling bryophytes on cedar and western hemlock. I walked up the Gavan hill trail to the upper cross trail to access the hill slope that had a promising mix of both species. It took about 3 hours from the trail head to walk up and back and sample 5 trees of each species. The first couple of trees were a little slow, but as I continued it was a more efficient process. The 20cm square quadrat worked pretty well for assigning a cover class. That size is alot easier to deal with than the larger ones I've used for herbaceous vegetation. I sampled on the north and south side of each tree at the base and at 1m. I'd like to sample again at 2m, but need a step stool to reach. Not happening at this point in time. I got busy with other projects so didn't get the data out of my notebook and into a spread sheet yet.
On the way up the trail I saw my first winter chanterelles of the season near the tall pines and some past prime Russula (xeramphelina -like) in the same area. I noticed some escaped Spiraea in the last fen-like muskeg before the woods begin. It's the domestic Spiraea from the old experimental station that is so abundant in the field by the observatory and the same one that I transplanted to the island garden.
Young Laetiporus sulfureus on a hemlock along the trail home this evening. It will make a nice meal this week. Not sure how I missed it this morning, must have been sleep-walking to not see the bright yellow and orange. Maybe I was distracted by the fox sparrow on the boardwalk.
I did find some more information about Oxytropis in southeast. Brad has found another species (?) on Trap Mtn and somewhere near Hoonah on limestone. Not sure about the geology of Coronation Island. Jordan also found Androsace lehmaniana, Silene acaulis, Erigeron humilis, Zigadenus elegans and Viola orbiculata. I guess I'll add Coronation island to my list of places to visit.
On the way up the trail I saw my first winter chanterelles of the season near the tall pines and some past prime Russula (xeramphelina -like) in the same area. I noticed some escaped Spiraea in the last fen-like muskeg before the woods begin. It's the domestic Spiraea from the old experimental station that is so abundant in the field by the observatory and the same one that I transplanted to the island garden.
Young Laetiporus sulfureus on a hemlock along the trail home this evening. It will make a nice meal this week. Not sure how I missed it this morning, must have been sleep-walking to not see the bright yellow and orange. Maybe I was distracted by the fox sparrow on the boardwalk.
I did find some more information about Oxytropis in southeast. Brad has found another species (?) on Trap Mtn and somewhere near Hoonah on limestone. Not sure about the geology of Coronation Island. Jordan also found Androsace lehmaniana, Silene acaulis, Erigeron humilis, Zigadenus elegans and Viola orbiculata. I guess I'll add Coronation island to my list of places to visit.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Jordan Roderick sent two photos of this plant from Pin Peak on Coronation Island. It looks like Oxytropis campestris. It's an interesting find as the plant is listed by Mary Stensvold as occuring in the northern part of the panhandle. Not sure from Judy Hall's range description if it has only been found in Yakutat. I'm hoping that he pressed a specimen...
The marbled murrelet count was down on Monday. I believe the total for the hour was around 50 murrelets. There were a rather large number (about 90) rhinoceros auklets. There was a group of approximately 300 auklets west of the immediate count area.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Somehow managed to haul myself out of bed at 7:15am after a ridiculously late (and fun) night of Harry Potter silliness. The Alpine Adventure run check in was from 8 to 8:45am, but Ian wasn't taking any chances with losing his spot and so we were there around 8:15. The weather was sunny and warm, perhaps too warm for the runners, but it was great for the observers. We walked the trail from the Harbor Mtn parking lot to the boulder field closest to the shelter to watch. We beat the first runners by about 5 minutes. It was an impressive show, both for stamina and the amount of blood. Many a knee and shin were covered in blood. Ian came in 21st at 1h 36m and managed to not injure himself.
After the runners were through I got to enjoy the meadow. The flowers looked lovely draped with clouds, but were on the breathtaking side of nice in the sun. The combination of the lupine and yellow paintbrush was especially nice. Most of what was blooming last week was still going, with the exception of the Anemone narcissifolia. I only found one small group of plants in the shade of a small hemlock. The Artemisia norvegica and Senecio triangularis were further along. The Saussurea americana and Gentiana platypetala weren't blooming yet though. I collected Elymus hirsutus from the meadow and Luzula multiflora var kobayashi from the high elevation muskeg (again! I seem to be resistant to accepting this one). I collected another piece of the Salix ovalifolia to root (it's in water now).
There was an interesting Ascomycete from cut banks near the path. It has a greyish ribbed stem and a dark brown cup shaped "cap". The fungi I saw were about 4-5 cm tall at maximum with cups about 2 cm wide. Today on the soil between the steps below Picnic Rock on Verstovia I found several more, some had caps that were roughly 4 cm wide. Most of the fungi on Verstovia had the stems mostly buried in the soil. In both Arora and the online Northwest keys, the fungus worked out fairly well to Helvella leucomelaena.
The Mycena I collected didn't work out so cleanly. There were troops of it under the Mtn. Hemlock on Harbor Mtn, so I collected several specimens. It was the small bright orange creature that I see every year, but usually walk on by. Now I remember why I usually admire it and walk away. It had an orange stem and cap, and emarginate gills (white faces and a bright yellow orange edge). It isn't viscid and it doesn't exude anything when picked or otherwise tortured, nor does it have a distinctive odor. Alas, it doesn't quite fit anywhere... I even tried other genera, but no luck. Next step is to find a more technical key and hone my razor blade technique.
I carried my binoculars to watch for Ian and in hopes of seeing the mystery sparrows. No luck with the sparrows, but did hear a red tail hawk. Got a brief glimpse of a yellow bird with a yellow beak and possibly a black forehead. Another goldfinch? Didn't get as good a look at this one, but Jeff did get a marginal photo of it.
Today, decided that it was time to hike up Verstovia again. It was already past the two week interval that I had been keeping through camp and it was still nice out this morning. Perhaps hyperactive or maybe chased by demons? This time I made it most of the way to the base of the rock on Arrowhead before turning around. Somehow I had forgotten the role that various taller and stronger people had played in past ascents. The clouds were also rolling in, so I opted to turn around. The diversity of plants along the trail was much less than on Gavan-Harbor, but I suspect I'd see more if I wandered. I did find a Malaxis paludosa in bloom, Saussurea americana, Veronica wormskjoldii, Pedicularis sudetica and Artemisia norvegica on steeper meadow area below Arrowhead. Saxifraga ferruginea was blooming on the shaded cliff faces.
Lots of juncos and a merlin in the bowl. One set of bear tracks in the bowl and scat on a steep bit on the way up Arrowhead. One juvenile ruby crowned kinglet just above the trailhead.
A flycatcher in the witch hazel in the garden this morning.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
The mystery Scroph was Lagotis glauca, definitely in the Anderson's Flora of Alaska. According to Anderson it occurs most places in the state except southeast. Could be a good excuse for not recognizing it...
I think that it might have been almost two weeks ago that I found a kid's butterfly net at Ben Franklin's. It finally was used for its original purpose yesterday, the capture of a bluet. Not a surprise, but it is alot easier to catch one with a net than a jar. Jeff captured one between segments of the refresher lessons on power tool use that he has been giving me. The bluet went into the refrigerator for 3 hours. Took it out and put it under the dissecting scope. I used side lamp instead of the scope light in an attempt to have it warm up slowly (or not cook it). Within two minutes it was attempting to fly, thinking that it needed a longer chill, we re-captured it and refrigerated overnight. This morning it was equally quick to warm up. Not really a surprise, but I had hope. The drawing in the book was much clearer than the actual insect (again no surprise) but I believe that the appendages match those of the Northern better than those of the Boreal. The bluet got away from me in the house so I'll probably get another look at it when I find it in a few days on the window sill.
The Vaccinium parvifolium berries are just turning red in the area of the garden where the waxwing and thrushes were hanging out. I'm surprised that the berries with the northwestern exposure are the first here to ripen.
Finally noticed the earliest of the Amanitas along the boardwalk. There are two individuals of the species I've been calling A. vaginata. It it a light grey-brown on the cap with pronounced striations at the margin. There isn't an annulus. The volva is saccate and not attached along the stipe. It's rather easy to miss without digging into the soil around the base. This species is probably part of a species complex that needs some study.
The hummingbirds are still thick in the garden. They continue their disinterest in the feeder, but spend alot of time in the flowers. One individual sits on a stem of an ornamental grass and visits the few remaining flowers of the columbines that are within reach.
The marbled murrelet count has varied between 8 and 14 individuals the last two days. The phalaropes seem to have disappeared from my path again.
I think that it might have been almost two weeks ago that I found a kid's butterfly net at Ben Franklin's. It finally was used for its original purpose yesterday, the capture of a bluet. Not a surprise, but it is alot easier to catch one with a net than a jar. Jeff captured one between segments of the refresher lessons on power tool use that he has been giving me. The bluet went into the refrigerator for 3 hours. Took it out and put it under the dissecting scope. I used side lamp instead of the scope light in an attempt to have it warm up slowly (or not cook it). Within two minutes it was attempting to fly, thinking that it needed a longer chill, we re-captured it and refrigerated overnight. This morning it was equally quick to warm up. Not really a surprise, but I had hope. The drawing in the book was much clearer than the actual insect (again no surprise) but I believe that the appendages match those of the Northern better than those of the Boreal. The bluet got away from me in the house so I'll probably get another look at it when I find it in a few days on the window sill.
The Vaccinium parvifolium berries are just turning red in the area of the garden where the waxwing and thrushes were hanging out. I'm surprised that the berries with the northwestern exposure are the first here to ripen.
Finally noticed the earliest of the Amanitas along the boardwalk. There are two individuals of the species I've been calling A. vaginata. It it a light grey-brown on the cap with pronounced striations at the margin. There isn't an annulus. The volva is saccate and not attached along the stipe. It's rather easy to miss without digging into the soil around the base. This species is probably part of a species complex that needs some study.
The hummingbirds are still thick in the garden. They continue their disinterest in the feeder, but spend alot of time in the flowers. One individual sits on a stem of an ornamental grass and visits the few remaining flowers of the columbines that are within reach.
The marbled murrelet count has varied between 8 and 14 individuals the last two days. The phalaropes seem to have disappeared from my path again.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Brad sent a few photos from Unalaska to torture me. Not sure yet about the identity of this lovely flower. Looks rather like a member of the Scrophulariaceae, but it doesn't quite fit in any of the taxa included in the Floras that I have around.
Counted Marbled murrelets Monday morning from 5:30 to 6:30. It was pouring and would not have been possible without an umbrella over the spotting scope. The binoculars were so fogged up that without constant cleaning, they were worthless. The data sheet was fairly worthless, next time I'm bringing my write-in-the-rain notebook or maybe even delaying a day. We did have a busy count: 5 in, 67 out; 19 in, 38 out; 24 in, 43 out; and 12 in, 42 out in the four periods. There were also a large number of rhinoceros auklets and murres.
A group of about 40 -80 small shorebirds wheeled around the count area, but I couldn't get a good look at them. They never settled in a spot and foggy binoculars didn't help. Later in the day, there were large flocks of red-necked phalaropes between Crescent harbor and Morne island. I suspect that it was the phalaropes that I was seeing off Whale park.
Paid off my dancing debt this afternoon with a walk up Indian river. We ate blueberries, salmonberries, violets and both Streptopus species. Jay wasn't impressed with the flavor of the blueberries, I guess they are sweeter in Montana. I'm hoping for some sweet blueberries from the muskegs this year.
Saw a number of Laccaria laccata, Lactarius spp and of course lots of small non-descript mushrooms. The Northwest key council has keys for Mycena and other painful taxa on the web, so I might have to quit avoiding them.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The first time I woke up (around 5am) it was foggy. Fell back asleep and when I got up it was sunny. Unfortunately, I spent the sunny part of the day doing laundry and clean up at the Fine Arts camp faculty dorm. Finished my share of the chores at noon and met Steve and M.B. at Crescent for a trip to Redoubt lake. I don't really need any fish as I'm amply supplied with troll caught salmon, but subsistance fishing can be alot of fun and has a nice sense of community about it. The weather was sunny when we started down, but was dripping before we went past Povorotni Pt. Its steady rain this evening.
There was an immense amount of water coming down all outlets from the lake. Not surprising given the amount of snow this winter and the amount that is still present on the mountains surrounding the lake. There was a snow patch at the base of a slide on the north side of the bay at about 300ft. The rock in the main channel that Steve and M.B. usually fish from was covered by roaring water, but we decided to stick with that shore. The smaller side channel where I've fished was crowded with people and didn't look as inviting. Given the volume of water and the length of the net handle, there was no way I or M.B. could begin to control the net, so we let Steve do that part of the work. It was pretty difficult for him too, but we did get two bright and relatively large sockeye. We were waiting for the next fish to clean, when a bear walked across the weir with a cleaned sockeye in its mouth. We were about 50ft below the weir so we got a pretty good look at it. It was a young one, maybe on its second year of life. It had a nice shoulder hump, but looked rather lean. The sockeye should help. It disappeared in the forest for a few minutes, I assume eating its fish away from people and then we spotted it again at the beginning of the weir. It was watching Steve rather closely and we were watching it. For a moment, it looked like it was going to come our way, so I untied the skiff and M. B. grabbed the oars, but the bear decided to cross the weir again. Next time I saw the bear it was climbing out of the water on the far bank. The people on the side channel had created enough of a ruckus that the bear moved on. It turned out the fishing was much better on the side channel. People there seemed to be getting their limit of fish. Snagging seemed to be productive for some people as well. We didn't bring poles so it wasn't an option.
There were a very large number of jellyfish (looked like lion's mane) around the outlet, some had been stranded by the high tide and there were several tide pools full of dying jelly fish.
Noticed Elliotia pyrolaeflora was blooming on an island between the outlet channels. Heuchera glabra, Hordeum brachyantherum, Festuca rubra and Deschampsia caespitosa (didn't check that one) were also flowering. Found a small clump of Hypopitys monotropa in the forest. Pseudocyphellaria anomla on both Alnus rubra and A.viridis (correct name?). Once a person starts looking for something, its amazing what one can find.
Lost count of the rhinoceros auklets, marbled murrelets, murres and pigeon guillemots that we saw in Redoubt bay. It might be an amazing place for a flyway count.
Saw a Pacific-slope flycatcher (and assorted thrushes) by the dock this morning on the way to town.
Counted 8 murrelets on the way home.
I forgot to include Tellima grandiflora and Heuchera glabra on yesterday's blooming list from the Harbor-Gavan trail. I left the willow on the dissecting scope last night, by morning all of the pistils had opened, showing alot of white fuzzy seeds.
There was an immense amount of water coming down all outlets from the lake. Not surprising given the amount of snow this winter and the amount that is still present on the mountains surrounding the lake. There was a snow patch at the base of a slide on the north side of the bay at about 300ft. The rock in the main channel that Steve and M.B. usually fish from was covered by roaring water, but we decided to stick with that shore. The smaller side channel where I've fished was crowded with people and didn't look as inviting. Given the volume of water and the length of the net handle, there was no way I or M.B. could begin to control the net, so we let Steve do that part of the work. It was pretty difficult for him too, but we did get two bright and relatively large sockeye. We were waiting for the next fish to clean, when a bear walked across the weir with a cleaned sockeye in its mouth. We were about 50ft below the weir so we got a pretty good look at it. It was a young one, maybe on its second year of life. It had a nice shoulder hump, but looked rather lean. The sockeye should help. It disappeared in the forest for a few minutes, I assume eating its fish away from people and then we spotted it again at the beginning of the weir. It was watching Steve rather closely and we were watching it. For a moment, it looked like it was going to come our way, so I untied the skiff and M. B. grabbed the oars, but the bear decided to cross the weir again. Next time I saw the bear it was climbing out of the water on the far bank. The people on the side channel had created enough of a ruckus that the bear moved on. It turned out the fishing was much better on the side channel. People there seemed to be getting their limit of fish. Snagging seemed to be productive for some people as well. We didn't bring poles so it wasn't an option.
There were a very large number of jellyfish (looked like lion's mane) around the outlet, some had been stranded by the high tide and there were several tide pools full of dying jelly fish.
Noticed Elliotia pyrolaeflora was blooming on an island between the outlet channels. Heuchera glabra, Hordeum brachyantherum, Festuca rubra and Deschampsia caespitosa (didn't check that one) were also flowering. Found a small clump of Hypopitys monotropa in the forest. Pseudocyphellaria anomla on both Alnus rubra and A.viridis (correct name?). Once a person starts looking for something, its amazing what one can find.
Lost count of the rhinoceros auklets, marbled murrelets, murres and pigeon guillemots that we saw in Redoubt bay. It might be an amazing place for a flyway count.
Saw a Pacific-slope flycatcher (and assorted thrushes) by the dock this morning on the way to town.
Counted 8 murrelets on the way home.
I forgot to include Tellima grandiflora and Heuchera glabra on yesterday's blooming list from the Harbor-Gavan trail. I left the willow on the dissecting scope last night, by morning all of the pistils had opened, showing alot of white fuzzy seeds.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
A short series of fortunate events including; a bloom status tip from Roland, a vehicle pick-up by Steve and finding two willing companions, Molly and M. B. , resulted in a pleasant hike from the Harbor Mtn. parking lot to Gavan Hill trail head.
The weather wasn't exactly suitable for long distance views, the clouds never did lift, but the close up view of the flora was glorious. The leaves were covered with fine drops of water, but the flowers were still open despite the very low clouds.
The snow was gone between the parking lot and the junction between the Gavan trail and the Harbor mtn trail. Before the trail junction, the Anemone were mostly done, but the Dodecatheon jeffreyi were looking and smelling great.
Past the junction the meadows were lush and impressive (enough superlatives?) the in bloom list included: Castilleja unalaschensis, C. parviflora, Geranium erianthum, Aconitum delphinifolium, Erigeron peregrinus, Fauria crista-galli, Heracleum maximum, Aquilegia formosa (the flowers seemed extra large), Saxifraga ferruginea, Hiericium triste, Pedicularis verticillata, and P. sudetica (didn't check this one), Cornus suecica, Cassiope mertensiana, Harrimanella stelleriana, Phyllodoce glandulifera, Luetkea pectinata, Geum calthifolium, Valeriana sitchensis, Veronica wormskjoldii, Viola langsdorfii, Polygonum viviparum, Fritillaria caschatcensis, Veratrum viride, and Trientalis europaea.
Most of the Carex I saw in the meadows looked like Carex macrochaeta. One of my favorite alpine grasses, Phleum alpinum was blooming in the meadows.
The Gentiana platypetala, Senecio triangularis and Artemisia weren't quite open yet, there may have been one of each of the latter two species blooming. Ranunculus cooleyae was done.
Also saw several Cryptogramma crispa and a nicely annoying willow. So far it looks like Salix ovalifolia/stolonifera. The leaf reticulation isn't deep enough for S. reticulata, the pistils are glabrous so it can't be S. arctica. I'm not entirely satisfied with the identification and could change my mind.
Past the shelter, there were still several large areas of snow. Hopefully, for Ian's sake more of the snow will be gone before the race. I can't really imagine running up the hill, seems almost as foreign as playing an instrument.
The lichens on the boulders were intriguing, but I'll go back for those on a later trip, there's only so long I can make my friends wait while I dilly-dally.
Saw hummingbirds, juncos, and a couple of sparrows that I can't quite squish into anything. The sparrows lacked streaking, but had a strong breast spot, a dark crown and a lighter eyebrow. Binoculars probably would have helped, but they were in the car. Alpine sparrows seem to be my achilles heel.
Saw some bear scat and a few deer tracks.
10 marbled murrelets yesterday, 7 today.
The weather wasn't exactly suitable for long distance views, the clouds never did lift, but the close up view of the flora was glorious. The leaves were covered with fine drops of water, but the flowers were still open despite the very low clouds.
The snow was gone between the parking lot and the junction between the Gavan trail and the Harbor mtn trail. Before the trail junction, the Anemone were mostly done, but the Dodecatheon jeffreyi were looking and smelling great.
Past the junction the meadows were lush and impressive (enough superlatives?) the in bloom list included: Castilleja unalaschensis, C. parviflora, Geranium erianthum, Aconitum delphinifolium, Erigeron peregrinus, Fauria crista-galli, Heracleum maximum, Aquilegia formosa (the flowers seemed extra large), Saxifraga ferruginea, Hiericium triste, Pedicularis verticillata, and P. sudetica (didn't check this one), Cornus suecica, Cassiope mertensiana, Harrimanella stelleriana, Phyllodoce glandulifera, Luetkea pectinata, Geum calthifolium, Valeriana sitchensis, Veronica wormskjoldii, Viola langsdorfii, Polygonum viviparum, Fritillaria caschatcensis, Veratrum viride, and Trientalis europaea.
Most of the Carex I saw in the meadows looked like Carex macrochaeta. One of my favorite alpine grasses, Phleum alpinum was blooming in the meadows.
The Gentiana platypetala, Senecio triangularis and Artemisia weren't quite open yet, there may have been one of each of the latter two species blooming. Ranunculus cooleyae was done.
Also saw several Cryptogramma crispa and a nicely annoying willow. So far it looks like Salix ovalifolia/stolonifera. The leaf reticulation isn't deep enough for S. reticulata, the pistils are glabrous so it can't be S. arctica. I'm not entirely satisfied with the identification and could change my mind.
Past the shelter, there were still several large areas of snow. Hopefully, for Ian's sake more of the snow will be gone before the race. I can't really imagine running up the hill, seems almost as foreign as playing an instrument.
The lichens on the boulders were intriguing, but I'll go back for those on a later trip, there's only so long I can make my friends wait while I dilly-dally.
Saw hummingbirds, juncos, and a couple of sparrows that I can't quite squish into anything. The sparrows lacked streaking, but had a strong breast spot, a dark crown and a lighter eyebrow. Binoculars probably would have helped, but they were in the car. Alpine sparrows seem to be my achilles heel.
Saw some bear scat and a few deer tracks.
10 marbled murrelets yesterday, 7 today.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Another wet day, I'm becoming quite fond of my umbrella. The mist is nice, but my tomatoes would like a little more warmth. The rest of the garden looks just fine. There are lots of flowers for the hummingbirds, they especially like the columbines near the computer window.
This evening I saw a cedar waxwing in the garden. It was in the berry bushes behind the Kolkwitzia then flew up to a nearby dead branch on a Western hemlock.It stayed perched long enough (at least 15 minutes) for me to get a good look at it. Managed an adequate photo for proof, but not worth anything else. At first I thought it was a Bohemian waxwing, as that is usually what I see around here, but the back of the bird was toward me which gave a good look at a feature that I hadn't paid much attention to before. The white line (more properly the white inner edge of the tertials) along either side of the middle is really quite distinctive. The color was browner than the Bohemian, but that is often hard to feel confident about. The white lines are pretty obvious though.
Also out in the garden shaking the bushes was a juvenile robin and its parent (?).
I simmered the chocolate lily bulblets for about 15 minutes in a small amount of water. Sprinkled in a little salt and some butter and mashed them. The first taste was pretty good, but a bitter after taste developed. Most of the students also noticed the bitter taste, but two didn't at all. Genetic? It would be more interesting than the average PTC taste papers. Might be fun to send out chocolate lily bulblets in the lab kits for biology 103, but I'd hate to dig up that many plants.
I couldn't quite bring myself to cook all of the bulblets and saved about 12 and planted them in some potting soil in a starter six pack pot. I'll bury the pot in a vegetable bed and hope that I remember where I hid it. Why mark things when you can just lose them? I did find one of the Senecio pseudo-arnica I planted last year. Fortunately, I recognized it before it fell to a weeding rampage.
10 marbled murrelets on the way home this evening, 4 on the way to town this morning.
This evening I saw a cedar waxwing in the garden. It was in the berry bushes behind the Kolkwitzia then flew up to a nearby dead branch on a Western hemlock.It stayed perched long enough (at least 15 minutes) for me to get a good look at it. Managed an adequate photo for proof, but not worth anything else. At first I thought it was a Bohemian waxwing, as that is usually what I see around here, but the back of the bird was toward me which gave a good look at a feature that I hadn't paid much attention to before. The white line (more properly the white inner edge of the tertials) along either side of the middle is really quite distinctive. The color was browner than the Bohemian, but that is often hard to feel confident about. The white lines are pretty obvious though.
Also out in the garden shaking the bushes was a juvenile robin and its parent (?).
I simmered the chocolate lily bulblets for about 15 minutes in a small amount of water. Sprinkled in a little salt and some butter and mashed them. The first taste was pretty good, but a bitter after taste developed. Most of the students also noticed the bitter taste, but two didn't at all. Genetic? It would be more interesting than the average PTC taste papers. Might be fun to send out chocolate lily bulblets in the lab kits for biology 103, but I'd hate to dig up that many plants.
I couldn't quite bring myself to cook all of the bulblets and saved about 12 and planted them in some potting soil in a starter six pack pot. I'll bury the pot in a vegetable bed and hope that I remember where I hid it. Why mark things when you can just lose them? I did find one of the Senecio pseudo-arnica I planted last year. Fortunately, I recognized it before it fell to a weeding rampage.
10 marbled murrelets on the way home this evening, 4 on the way to town this morning.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tuesday, July 10 was a quintessential southeast Alaska kind of day. Misty, rainy and vaguely warm. The 8 students in the last section of Forest ecology , Emily and I hiked up Mt. Verstovia in the rain. I've never hiked with an umbrella before, but was very happy that I brought mine. A student from Barrow had hers as well. We may have looked a little odd, but we were alot happier than the rest of the class. I was tempted to wear my shorts, but was happy that I settled on the high tech. (anything but jeans) wear. It was a little chilly at picnic rock. I was sorry that it never cleared off enough for the students to see the view of town, but the cloud draped trees were beautiful.
Found another yellow Corallorhiza along the trail at about 850ft, it wasn't open enough to investigate the venation of the sepals.
The first meadow was free of snow, but there was still some between the clump of trees and picnic rock. Viola glabella and Harrimanella stelleriana were blooming in the meadow. One Castilleja parviflora was open enough to show the students how striking the flower would become when open. I didn't see any Coptis in bloom. Near picnic rock Luetkea pectinata, Erigeron peregrinus, Phyllodoce glandulifera and a few Harrimanella were blooming. I'll have to make another trip in 2 weeks to check the progress of the flowers, maybe start a little earlier and make it to Arrowhead. There were Robins, Varied Thrush, Juncos, and Hermit thrush along the ridge and in the area around Picnic rock.
Saw 4 marbled murrelets on the way home.
On Monday morning I saw the first flock of Phalaropes this summer.
Today took the class to Starrigavan for another very rainy walk. We collected some Frittilaria bulblets and yarrow. I'll bring the chocolate lily backed cooked for the class to taste and let them take the yarrow home for tea.
Castilleja, Ligusticum, Heracleum and Achillaea were in bloom.
Found another yellow Corallorhiza along the trail at about 850ft, it wasn't open enough to investigate the venation of the sepals.
The first meadow was free of snow, but there was still some between the clump of trees and picnic rock. Viola glabella and Harrimanella stelleriana were blooming in the meadow. One Castilleja parviflora was open enough to show the students how striking the flower would become when open. I didn't see any Coptis in bloom. Near picnic rock Luetkea pectinata, Erigeron peregrinus, Phyllodoce glandulifera and a few Harrimanella were blooming. I'll have to make another trip in 2 weeks to check the progress of the flowers, maybe start a little earlier and make it to Arrowhead. There were Robins, Varied Thrush, Juncos, and Hermit thrush along the ridge and in the area around Picnic rock.
Saw 4 marbled murrelets on the way home.
On Monday morning I saw the first flock of Phalaropes this summer.
Today took the class to Starrigavan for another very rainy walk. We collected some Frittilaria bulblets and yarrow. I'll bring the chocolate lily backed cooked for the class to taste and let them take the yarrow home for tea.
Castilleja, Ligusticum, Heracleum and Achillaea were in bloom.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Out of bed excessively early today to count Marbled murrelets at Whale Park. We were busy counting both murrelets and Rhinoceros auklets. There were well over 40 auklets and probably about as many murrelets. I'm a little sloppy on the numbers since I wasn't final recorder or maybe because I was on the sleepy side by the end of the count. There were also a number of rafts of common murres on the far shore west of the count island.
This was the last day for the forest ecology class at the Gavan hill site. I'll miss the motivation to be outside everyday, hopefully the ripening cloud and blue berries and the coming mushroom season will serve to entice me out. A friend told me that she had collected chicken of the woods last Thursday. I did see the first Lactarius of the season on the Cross Trail today. I planned on collecting them on the way out, but was beat by three hungry slugs. In 1.5 hours they had completely eaten the caps and most of the stems. Guess that will teach me to hesitate.
We caught and subsequently liberated 23 ground beetles, 5 millipedes and 4 spiders in five pit-traps in the plot over the weekend. The spiders had interesting color banded legs, but I've no clue as to their identity.
It's a nice rainy soothing sort of day today, but I do hope for a little less rain for the last class ascent of Verstovia tomorrow.
This was the last day for the forest ecology class at the Gavan hill site. I'll miss the motivation to be outside everyday, hopefully the ripening cloud and blue berries and the coming mushroom season will serve to entice me out. A friend told me that she had collected chicken of the woods last Thursday. I did see the first Lactarius of the season on the Cross Trail today. I planned on collecting them on the way out, but was beat by three hungry slugs. In 1.5 hours they had completely eaten the caps and most of the stems. Guess that will teach me to hesitate.
We caught and subsequently liberated 23 ground beetles, 5 millipedes and 4 spiders in five pit-traps in the plot over the weekend. The spiders had interesting color banded legs, but I've no clue as to their identity.
It's a nice rainy soothing sort of day today, but I do hope for a little less rain for the last class ascent of Verstovia tomorrow.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Sunday, July 8
Yesterday the Agers and I joined the Sitka Trailworks trip to Mt. Edgecumbe. The forecast for Saturday was not encouraging, so I packed my raingear and anticipated a soggy hike in the clouds. Hurrah for the uncertainties of weather since it turned out to be a good day for shorts and sunscreen.
The boat left the dock at 6:45am with 23 people including the Hunters, the designated leaders. Leaders only in the sense that they took responsibility for getting everyone off and back on the boat and giving a brief orientation to the trail. I haven't hiked up a Mtn this summer without seeing at least one of the Hunter family.
We had a nice time botanizing along the trail, I managed to find someone who gets more lost in the flora than even I do. Nothing like an unfamiliar flora (or one known mostly by its pollen) to entice a person. I did notice a few plants that I wouldn't have if I hadn't been going at a slower pace, eg. Myrica gale and Rhyncospora alba. How I managed to miss the Myrica the last time I was on this trail is a little mortifying, but I was being chased up the trail by alot of speedy women. The Rhyncospora stood out nicely in the lower muskeg since it was blooming. I even attempted to take a few photos with a borrowed camera, but alas most of the photos were quite deletable.
Apargidium boreale was abundantly blooming. It was more visible on the way down the mountain in the afternoon after a morning of sun. The Erigeron peregrinus was also blooming. The color varied from dark purple to white and we briefly tested the idea that color might be related to maturity. We decided to rate maturity based on blooming of the disc flowers, but first had to decide if they bloomed from the outside in or the other way around. After some looking around we settled on the outside to inside blooming pattern, but definitely couldn't find a consistant relationship between color and maturity. I still wonder about the youngest flowers particularly those in the shade, they do seem to be the darkest purple.
Also collected a bicolored Pedicularis from the muskeg, I'm feeling pretty comfortable about calling it P. parviflora because of the flower structure and branching, but it seems unlikely that it is an annual or biennial. I'll bet on a short lived perennnial.
Re-collected the Juncus that I found last year. It's a beautiful plant often with red stems that grows in the muskeg ponds. I'm tentatively calling it J. stygius, but I'd like to do some measuring under a dissecting scope.
Alot of the muskeg ponds were dry, and the muskegs themselves seemed a little on the dry side as well. I was able to keep my feet dry in my very low tech tennis shoes even with lengthy wanders in the muskeg. The Nuphar polysepalum looked a little sad laying limp in the cracking mud. Riminds that I definitely need to find the Nymphaea this summer. I vaguely remember the directions I received.
The Dodecatheon jeffreyi still had a few flowers, but I didn't notice any pollinators. Saw some bluets and a few larger dragonflies, but didn't have the time (we had to be on the beach at 5pm) to loiter over insects and plants.
Found Pinquicula vulgaris, Elliotia pyrolaeflorus, and Phyllodoce glandulifera blooming near the shelter. Thelypteris limbosperma was growing along the trail in the pockets of trees from the shelter on.
Just past the tent platform, the Agers decided that they weren't going to attempt to make the summit, so they sent me on alone. I stopped at the 0.6mile marker to unload the excess baggage from my pack, ate some chocolate and carried on into the clouds.
On the way up saw in bloom: Castilleja parviflora, Pedicularis oederi, Cassiope mertensiana, Viola langsdorfii, Veronica wormskjoldii, Ranunculus cooleyae, Carex nigricans, Vaccinium uliginosum. Also found Diphasastrum sitchense with strobili. The mix of colors of the leaves of the Vaccinium spp. and Cassiope was really quite nice, alas no photo. I had to kick myself over leaving my binoculars by the marker, as there were some light breasted sparrows in the shrubs on the slope of the scree. All I could see was the light breast and some sort of marking on the top of their head. I remember doing this last year too, maybe next time I'll remember the binoculars.
Collected two fruiting mosses, a piece of the liverwort mat and another (?) liverwort growing on a small rock. The latter is probably the same liverwort that makes up the mat, Gymnomitrium apiculatum. The summit was still in the clouds when I was up, but I could see that there was still snow in the crater. Someday I'd like to have enough time to walk around the crater. I'd also like to explore Crater ridge and the northwest side of Edgecumbe. No idea how crazy an idea that is though.
Came back out of the clouds about 300ft above the marker and rejoined the Agers who were busy exploring the tundra vegetation near treeline. I'm not sure what time we left treeline (maybe 1:30), but we didn't get to the beach until 5:08pm. We weren't the last down, but I didn't feel good about making people wait.
Tom collected a peat sample for pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating from an exposure on a slump at the edge of the long muskeg. It will be interesting to hear what they find.
Saw juncos, chickadees, hermit, swainsons and varied thrushes, robins, a yellow warbler and a very upset Yellowlegs along the trail. The poor yellowlegs was alarming for about 20 minutes while the group wandered it's way past the muskeg where it must have had a nest.
Had to indulge in a very hot bath and some serious stretching after this 14 mile hike. It was easier this year than last, but I probably still need to keep climbing if I'm going to see the poppies this summer.
4 marbled murrelets on the way home.
Yesterday the Agers and I joined the Sitka Trailworks trip to Mt. Edgecumbe. The forecast for Saturday was not encouraging, so I packed my raingear and anticipated a soggy hike in the clouds. Hurrah for the uncertainties of weather since it turned out to be a good day for shorts and sunscreen.
The boat left the dock at 6:45am with 23 people including the Hunters, the designated leaders. Leaders only in the sense that they took responsibility for getting everyone off and back on the boat and giving a brief orientation to the trail. I haven't hiked up a Mtn this summer without seeing at least one of the Hunter family.
We had a nice time botanizing along the trail, I managed to find someone who gets more lost in the flora than even I do. Nothing like an unfamiliar flora (or one known mostly by its pollen) to entice a person. I did notice a few plants that I wouldn't have if I hadn't been going at a slower pace, eg. Myrica gale and Rhyncospora alba. How I managed to miss the Myrica the last time I was on this trail is a little mortifying, but I was being chased up the trail by alot of speedy women. The Rhyncospora stood out nicely in the lower muskeg since it was blooming. I even attempted to take a few photos with a borrowed camera, but alas most of the photos were quite deletable.
Apargidium boreale was abundantly blooming. It was more visible on the way down the mountain in the afternoon after a morning of sun. The Erigeron peregrinus was also blooming. The color varied from dark purple to white and we briefly tested the idea that color might be related to maturity. We decided to rate maturity based on blooming of the disc flowers, but first had to decide if they bloomed from the outside in or the other way around. After some looking around we settled on the outside to inside blooming pattern, but definitely couldn't find a consistant relationship between color and maturity. I still wonder about the youngest flowers particularly those in the shade, they do seem to be the darkest purple.
Also collected a bicolored Pedicularis from the muskeg, I'm feeling pretty comfortable about calling it P. parviflora because of the flower structure and branching, but it seems unlikely that it is an annual or biennial. I'll bet on a short lived perennnial.
Re-collected the Juncus that I found last year. It's a beautiful plant often with red stems that grows in the muskeg ponds. I'm tentatively calling it J. stygius, but I'd like to do some measuring under a dissecting scope.
Alot of the muskeg ponds were dry, and the muskegs themselves seemed a little on the dry side as well. I was able to keep my feet dry in my very low tech tennis shoes even with lengthy wanders in the muskeg. The Nuphar polysepalum looked a little sad laying limp in the cracking mud. Riminds that I definitely need to find the Nymphaea this summer. I vaguely remember the directions I received.
The Dodecatheon jeffreyi still had a few flowers, but I didn't notice any pollinators. Saw some bluets and a few larger dragonflies, but didn't have the time (we had to be on the beach at 5pm) to loiter over insects and plants.
Found Pinquicula vulgaris, Elliotia pyrolaeflorus, and Phyllodoce glandulifera blooming near the shelter. Thelypteris limbosperma was growing along the trail in the pockets of trees from the shelter on.
Just past the tent platform, the Agers decided that they weren't going to attempt to make the summit, so they sent me on alone. I stopped at the 0.6mile marker to unload the excess baggage from my pack, ate some chocolate and carried on into the clouds.
On the way up saw in bloom: Castilleja parviflora, Pedicularis oederi, Cassiope mertensiana, Viola langsdorfii, Veronica wormskjoldii, Ranunculus cooleyae, Carex nigricans, Vaccinium uliginosum. Also found Diphasastrum sitchense with strobili. The mix of colors of the leaves of the Vaccinium spp. and Cassiope was really quite nice, alas no photo. I had to kick myself over leaving my binoculars by the marker, as there were some light breasted sparrows in the shrubs on the slope of the scree. All I could see was the light breast and some sort of marking on the top of their head. I remember doing this last year too, maybe next time I'll remember the binoculars.
Collected two fruiting mosses, a piece of the liverwort mat and another (?) liverwort growing on a small rock. The latter is probably the same liverwort that makes up the mat, Gymnomitrium apiculatum. The summit was still in the clouds when I was up, but I could see that there was still snow in the crater. Someday I'd like to have enough time to walk around the crater. I'd also like to explore Crater ridge and the northwest side of Edgecumbe. No idea how crazy an idea that is though.
Came back out of the clouds about 300ft above the marker and rejoined the Agers who were busy exploring the tundra vegetation near treeline. I'm not sure what time we left treeline (maybe 1:30), but we didn't get to the beach until 5:08pm. We weren't the last down, but I didn't feel good about making people wait.
Tom collected a peat sample for pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating from an exposure on a slump at the edge of the long muskeg. It will be interesting to hear what they find.
Saw juncos, chickadees, hermit, swainsons and varied thrushes, robins, a yellow warbler and a very upset Yellowlegs along the trail. The poor yellowlegs was alarming for about 20 minutes while the group wandered it's way past the muskeg where it must have had a nest.
Had to indulge in a very hot bath and some serious stretching after this 14 mile hike. It was easier this year than last, but I probably still need to keep climbing if I'm going to see the poppies this summer.
4 marbled murrelets on the way home.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Friday, July 6Light rain Wednesday through today.
Woke up this morning to a song sparrow singing on the roof. It was rummaging in the (very full of plant debris) gutter for food. It alternated between a familiar song sparrow song and one that started the same way, but ended in an odd sort of laugh.
One of the things that makes me sad about SJ closing is the loss of random collaboration. A diver brought some odd invertebrates and an amazing alga to the aquarium on Tuesday. Aaron dealt with the inverts and called me in to look at the alga. How will I find out about these oddities in the future?
The diver collected this alga from the subtidal (140ft) on the southeast shore of Fragrant Island south of town. I've never seen anything like and so I begged Dan to photograph the specimen so I could email the photo to S. Lindstrom at UBC. It wasn't familiar to her or other phycologists with whom she has shared the image. Now the specimen is in the plant press and a small piece is in silica gel so that Sandra can do some genetic work on it.
The diver said there were many individuals of the alga at Fragrant island, but he hadn't seen it elsewhere.
Found a yellow Corallorhiza in the class transect yesterday. The labellum was white and three nerved, but the rest of the floral parts were a light yellow.
Only two Marbled murrelets this morning on the way to town.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Tuesday, July 3
Went to town at an amazingly early hour, 4:40am, to count Marbled murrelets. Finally getting up early paid off, we counted 49 murrelets flying through the count area of the spotting scope and another 10 in the area. For the first time I found the counter helpful to keep track of birds. Only one pigeon guillemot, no murres or rhinoceros auklets. The garbage can in the parking lot was knocked over while we were counting birds. It was fortunately an easy clean up. Why no Bear proof garbage cans?
I took a nap in my soon to be former office until it was time to meet the coring team for a Harbor Mtn sample. On the way up Harbor Mtn road noticed one Elliotia pyrolaeflora just starting to bloom. Also saw a strange woodpecker the size of a Hairy or Sapsucker. It had the typical tail pattern of the Picoides, but the rest of the coloring seemed a little odd. The back was a solid medium grey color without white or whitish bands and there was a small bit of red on the head. Looking in Sibley, it looks like a black backed woodpecker with a red head. Don't think so. Lacking a better choice, I might just have to assume that I saw a really odd Hairy woodpecker. There was a merlin flying the edge of the muskeg.
The coring site was the muskeg just to the left of the trail to the Picnic shelter at the first parking lot on the mountain. The peat at this site was 108 cm to a distinct ash layer. The peat was very dense compared to the Jarvis St. muskeg. It took two people pushing down on the sampler to cut through the peat on the way down and two pulling up to get the sampler out. At roughly 80cm there was a very light grey band that looked alot like a leached horizon in a soil profile, but it was gritty like ash. Below that there was more peat, then the typical orange ash at the base. There was some overlap in one of the cores, so I saved the extra (about 12cm) for a future attempt at processing. At this point, I had to leave for class, so I'm not sure what happened in the afternoon.
I did straighten out my misconception about the choice of sedge vs. sphagnum peat. The latter is soupy, but the larger issue is rate of accumulation. The sphagnum accumulates at a much greater rate without necessarily accumulating the pollen. The upshot is that the sphagnum peat cores are much deeper and the information yield often very low.
In bloom at the site: Pinguicula vulgaris, Andromeda polifolia, Vaccinium uliginosum, Carex pluriflora, Trichophorum caespitosum, Pedicularis sudetica, and one Gentiana douglasiana. Also saw in the area some Phyllodoce glanduliflora.
One weird taxonomic note: I heard yesterday that Ledum groenlandicum is now Rhododendron groenlandicum. The flower certainly has some similarities, but I suspect it was the genetics that drove the change.
The class went out to Starrigavan for the silviculture lesson. No weird animals today, but there was a large (ca. 9 inches) Coprinus comatus and a patch of Lycoperdon perlatum at the edge of the ATV trail by the rifle range. I'll have to try to get some sort of a photo of both species tomorrow, it is beyond time to lose the slides.
On the trail home coming down the hill from the lake, I somehow managed to look up at the right time (a total fluke) and saw a bird nest in a Vaccinium parvifolium on the east side of the trail. The shrub was growing on a ledge about a foot above the trail which must be why I've missed it before. Just looking at my feet when going down hill? The nest was empty, so I might collect it in a few weeks to show some class some day. There had been song sparrows in that area the last few weeks that had been scolding me, so perhaps it's their nest.
Didn't see any murrelets on the way home, but it was rather choppy. Could barely see when I went to town, but I vaguely remember 4 murrelets.
Went to town at an amazingly early hour, 4:40am, to count Marbled murrelets. Finally getting up early paid off, we counted 49 murrelets flying through the count area of the spotting scope and another 10 in the area. For the first time I found the counter helpful to keep track of birds. Only one pigeon guillemot, no murres or rhinoceros auklets. The garbage can in the parking lot was knocked over while we were counting birds. It was fortunately an easy clean up. Why no Bear proof garbage cans?
I took a nap in my soon to be former office until it was time to meet the coring team for a Harbor Mtn sample. On the way up Harbor Mtn road noticed one Elliotia pyrolaeflora just starting to bloom. Also saw a strange woodpecker the size of a Hairy or Sapsucker. It had the typical tail pattern of the Picoides, but the rest of the coloring seemed a little odd. The back was a solid medium grey color without white or whitish bands and there was a small bit of red on the head. Looking in Sibley, it looks like a black backed woodpecker with a red head. Don't think so. Lacking a better choice, I might just have to assume that I saw a really odd Hairy woodpecker. There was a merlin flying the edge of the muskeg.
The coring site was the muskeg just to the left of the trail to the Picnic shelter at the first parking lot on the mountain. The peat at this site was 108 cm to a distinct ash layer. The peat was very dense compared to the Jarvis St. muskeg. It took two people pushing down on the sampler to cut through the peat on the way down and two pulling up to get the sampler out. At roughly 80cm there was a very light grey band that looked alot like a leached horizon in a soil profile, but it was gritty like ash. Below that there was more peat, then the typical orange ash at the base. There was some overlap in one of the cores, so I saved the extra (about 12cm) for a future attempt at processing. At this point, I had to leave for class, so I'm not sure what happened in the afternoon.
I did straighten out my misconception about the choice of sedge vs. sphagnum peat. The latter is soupy, but the larger issue is rate of accumulation. The sphagnum accumulates at a much greater rate without necessarily accumulating the pollen. The upshot is that the sphagnum peat cores are much deeper and the information yield often very low.
In bloom at the site: Pinguicula vulgaris, Andromeda polifolia, Vaccinium uliginosum, Carex pluriflora, Trichophorum caespitosum, Pedicularis sudetica, and one Gentiana douglasiana. Also saw in the area some Phyllodoce glanduliflora.
One weird taxonomic note: I heard yesterday that Ledum groenlandicum is now Rhododendron groenlandicum. The flower certainly has some similarities, but I suspect it was the genetics that drove the change.
The class went out to Starrigavan for the silviculture lesson. No weird animals today, but there was a large (ca. 9 inches) Coprinus comatus and a patch of Lycoperdon perlatum at the edge of the ATV trail by the rifle range. I'll have to try to get some sort of a photo of both species tomorrow, it is beyond time to lose the slides.
On the trail home coming down the hill from the lake, I somehow managed to look up at the right time (a total fluke) and saw a bird nest in a Vaccinium parvifolium on the east side of the trail. The shrub was growing on a ledge about a foot above the trail which must be why I've missed it before. Just looking at my feet when going down hill? The nest was empty, so I might collect it in a few weeks to show some class some day. There had been song sparrows in that area the last few weeks that had been scolding me, so perhaps it's their nest.
Didn't see any murrelets on the way home, but it was rather choppy. Could barely see when I went to town, but I vaguely remember 4 murrelets.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Monday, July 2
Another sunny day, at least through the afternoon. Some intense, rain this evening, but there is blue on the horizon.
Went along with various Forest Service folks and Tom and Kathy Ager to core one of the road acessible muskegs. Apparently, one purpose of the trip was to fill in a gap in the USGS Sitka data from approximately 8 to 11,000 years ago. The Jarvis St. muskeg was selected because it had more shrubs and sedges than open sphagnum areas. If I remember correctly, the more sphagnum, the soupier the core.
First he checked the muskeg with a approximately 3m probe for depth to bedrock or ash. Most of the spots he checked weren't quite deep enough, one sounded like he hit something mineral, but the other might have been wood. He did find a spot where the probe went in to the handle, so we retrieved the rest of the coring tools from the truck.
The first step was to dig a hole (about 12" in diameter) with a soil shovel to 50 cm. Next he used a sampling tool with a chamber that takes a half meter length of soil at a time. He pushed the tool down to the 50 cm mark on the pole, turned it 180 degrees to open the chamber and cut a sample, then pulled the tool out. Each core is a half circle with a diameter of about 4 inches. Between each sample, we washed the sampling end of the tool to prevent layer contamination. The cores were laid out on a tarp in order so they could be easily packed up in the proper order. He sampled down to 3 meters before hitting something hard. Next he attached the augur to cut through whatever was impeding progress. It was alot of roots, apparently after I left for class, they did hit what was probably an ash layer just below the roots. When I brought the class out to the site, Tom was carefully cutting the core into 5cm sections and packing each 5cm in sterile and labeled sample bags. Back in the lab each 5cm sample is sieved and chemically treated to remove all plant parts except the pollen. I believe that he said it takes a week for his technician to do 15 samples. If the lower layer is ash, the 3m core represented appromately 10,000 to 12,000 years of peat accumulation.
Other tasks were to make a complete list of the present muskeg flora. I spent alot of time figuring out which species of Carex were present until I asked the critical question about differentiating the pollen. Apparently to Cyperaceae is all that can be done. That said, I had already found Carex stylosa, C. pauciflora, C. pluriflora, and C. livida in the area of the core. I neglected to collect the Agrostis that was blooming, I vaguely remember that it was always the same species, but I can't for the life of me remember which one.
Also blooming were Vaccinium oxycoccus, Eleocharis palustris, Nuphar polysepalum, and Vaccinium uliginosum. The cloud berries are getting closer and the crowberries look relatively ripe. I shouldn't be surprised that they are ripe since it seems like a long time since I was collecting the flowers on Kruzof.
This morning saw the young hermit thrush again along the boardwalk. First I saw a parent with a large insect (cranefly?) perched on a branch just out of my reach, then the juvenile who had been safely hidden in a trailside bush, lost its nerve and flew out in just in front of me.
Identified the rust on Moneses as Chrysomyxa monesis. Apparently it uses Sitka spruce cones as an aecial host and Moneses uniflora as a telial host. I don't remember seeing any sign of rust between the cone scales on spruce, but once again I may have been oblivious.
Saw 6 marbled murrelets on the way to town at 8:30am and 13 on the way home at 6:30pm.
Another sunny day, at least through the afternoon. Some intense, rain this evening, but there is blue on the horizon.
Went along with various Forest Service folks and Tom and Kathy Ager to core one of the road acessible muskegs. Apparently, one purpose of the trip was to fill in a gap in the USGS Sitka data from approximately 8 to 11,000 years ago. The Jarvis St. muskeg was selected because it had more shrubs and sedges than open sphagnum areas. If I remember correctly, the more sphagnum, the soupier the core.
First he checked the muskeg with a approximately 3m probe for depth to bedrock or ash. Most of the spots he checked weren't quite deep enough, one sounded like he hit something mineral, but the other might have been wood. He did find a spot where the probe went in to the handle, so we retrieved the rest of the coring tools from the truck.
The first step was to dig a hole (about 12" in diameter) with a soil shovel to 50 cm. Next he used a sampling tool with a chamber that takes a half meter length of soil at a time. He pushed the tool down to the 50 cm mark on the pole, turned it 180 degrees to open the chamber and cut a sample, then pulled the tool out. Each core is a half circle with a diameter of about 4 inches. Between each sample, we washed the sampling end of the tool to prevent layer contamination. The cores were laid out on a tarp in order so they could be easily packed up in the proper order. He sampled down to 3 meters before hitting something hard. Next he attached the augur to cut through whatever was impeding progress. It was alot of roots, apparently after I left for class, they did hit what was probably an ash layer just below the roots. When I brought the class out to the site, Tom was carefully cutting the core into 5cm sections and packing each 5cm in sterile and labeled sample bags. Back in the lab each 5cm sample is sieved and chemically treated to remove all plant parts except the pollen. I believe that he said it takes a week for his technician to do 15 samples. If the lower layer is ash, the 3m core represented appromately 10,000 to 12,000 years of peat accumulation.
Other tasks were to make a complete list of the present muskeg flora. I spent alot of time figuring out which species of Carex were present until I asked the critical question about differentiating the pollen. Apparently to Cyperaceae is all that can be done. That said, I had already found Carex stylosa, C. pauciflora, C. pluriflora, and C. livida in the area of the core. I neglected to collect the Agrostis that was blooming, I vaguely remember that it was always the same species, but I can't for the life of me remember which one.
Also blooming were Vaccinium oxycoccus, Eleocharis palustris, Nuphar polysepalum, and Vaccinium uliginosum. The cloud berries are getting closer and the crowberries look relatively ripe. I shouldn't be surprised that they are ripe since it seems like a long time since I was collecting the flowers on Kruzof.
This morning saw the young hermit thrush again along the boardwalk. First I saw a parent with a large insect (cranefly?) perched on a branch just out of my reach, then the juvenile who had been safely hidden in a trailside bush, lost its nerve and flew out in just in front of me.
Identified the rust on Moneses as Chrysomyxa monesis. Apparently it uses Sitka spruce cones as an aecial host and Moneses uniflora as a telial host. I don't remember seeing any sign of rust between the cone scales on spruce, but once again I may have been oblivious.
Saw 6 marbled murrelets on the way to town at 8:30am and 13 on the way home at 6:30pm.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Sunday July 1
High clouds with just a few sprinkles of rain that I noticed.
Yesterday on the way to town for a 12hour marathon in the Centennial building, saw 5 great blue herons on the rock close to the Galankin dock. The nest on the adjacent island may have been active this year, but I didn't notice.
On a completely different subject, I am baffled by a musician's inability to dance, not the steps piece, but the rhythm. How can one not find the rhythm to a swing dance? I traded botanical information for two dances. Not sure how many edible plants the dancing was worth, but I should be generous, it was pretty funny. Whatever above board method that it takes to get a guy to dance is probably worth it.
This morning I " went to church with Molly" which translates to, I walked from Herring cove to the Hatchery with Molly. It was a nice morning for it, since she sets a pretty intense pace, the coolness was rather welcome. There was some old bear scat along the road, but nothing fresh. We ate alot of salmonberries on the trip back. I had seen the first ones about a week ago, but hadn't eaten any yet. They were quite delicious. Looked at a dipper nest (a nice mossy volleyball) under the bridge by the hatchery. We did see a bird in the creek upriver about 50ft, but didn't hear any noise coming from the nest. There is sign of use, but I'm not sure how old it is. How long does the uric acid stay on the surface of the underbridge? We didn't stay too long to watch, with the dog in the water, the bird probably wasn't going to come too close.
In bloom along the road: Galium triflorum (hooked hairs on fruit), Arabis lyrata, Cerastium vulgatum, Achillaea borealis, Aruncus dioicus, Aquilegia formosa and one lovely salmonberry flower. There were grasses almost out and a few Carex mertensiana as well, but was feeling a bit lazy for cataloging sedges today.
I saw two juvenile hermit thrushes today on the island. I hadn't noticed how spotted their heads were before. There were several juvenile robins in the alders in the commons today as well.
I wonder how many thrushes southeast Alaska produces? Given the number of juvenile robins and thrushes that I see on Galankin, the number must be immense.
The hummingbirds are thick again in the garden, either I have been oblivious (not unlikely) or they have been someplace else for a week or so.
4 marbled murrelets on the way to town at 5pm, didn't see any on my way home at 6:30.
High clouds with just a few sprinkles of rain that I noticed.
Yesterday on the way to town for a 12hour marathon in the Centennial building, saw 5 great blue herons on the rock close to the Galankin dock. The nest on the adjacent island may have been active this year, but I didn't notice.
On a completely different subject, I am baffled by a musician's inability to dance, not the steps piece, but the rhythm. How can one not find the rhythm to a swing dance? I traded botanical information for two dances. Not sure how many edible plants the dancing was worth, but I should be generous, it was pretty funny. Whatever above board method that it takes to get a guy to dance is probably worth it.
This morning I " went to church with Molly" which translates to, I walked from Herring cove to the Hatchery with Molly. It was a nice morning for it, since she sets a pretty intense pace, the coolness was rather welcome. There was some old bear scat along the road, but nothing fresh. We ate alot of salmonberries on the trip back. I had seen the first ones about a week ago, but hadn't eaten any yet. They were quite delicious. Looked at a dipper nest (a nice mossy volleyball) under the bridge by the hatchery. We did see a bird in the creek upriver about 50ft, but didn't hear any noise coming from the nest. There is sign of use, but I'm not sure how old it is. How long does the uric acid stay on the surface of the underbridge? We didn't stay too long to watch, with the dog in the water, the bird probably wasn't going to come too close.
In bloom along the road: Galium triflorum (hooked hairs on fruit), Arabis lyrata, Cerastium vulgatum, Achillaea borealis, Aruncus dioicus, Aquilegia formosa and one lovely salmonberry flower. There were grasses almost out and a few Carex mertensiana as well, but was feeling a bit lazy for cataloging sedges today.
I saw two juvenile hermit thrushes today on the island. I hadn't noticed how spotted their heads were before. There were several juvenile robins in the alders in the commons today as well.
I wonder how many thrushes southeast Alaska produces? Given the number of juvenile robins and thrushes that I see on Galankin, the number must be immense.
The hummingbirds are thick again in the garden, either I have been oblivious (not unlikely) or they have been someplace else for a week or so.
4 marbled murrelets on the way to town at 5pm, didn't see any on my way home at 6:30.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)