Life on the Outer Coast

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.