Life on the Outer Coast

September 25 & 26
The weather was rather wet, sometimes extremely so. Divided these two days between going over the stained root slides at Mt. Edgecumbe and planting alders in the park.
A synopsis of what we found so far in the roots: good indications of typical VA mycorrhizae in Coptis trifoliata, Cornus suecica and Triantha glutinosa; dark septate hyphae in all species we looked at including Trichophorum, Carex livida, C. pluriflora, Empetrum nigrum, Rubus chamaemorus, Kalmia polifolia (had vesicles as well) and Vaccinium oxycoccus. In several there was a second (or third) type of hyphae that picked up the ink stain, was generally wider than the dark septate type and lacked septa. The smaller roots of Drosera and Gentiana were unfortunately lost. I need to show people how to drain test tubes without losing the contents.

Switched to planting small alders instead of large ones. The smaller ones are easier for me to dig up and more difficult for people to pull out. Must not want to bend over too far. Planted about 5 salmonberries and 2 elderberries in the site. I wanted to plant more, but haven't found easy candidates for transplanting.

Walked down to the river mouth after planting on Tuesday. The river was very high & muddy looking from all of the rain. Found Pintails, one shoveler, mallards, widgeons and green winged teal. Still searching for the slaty-backed gull.
Geoff Smith reported seeing an odd gull that sounds like the dark naped gulls I saw yesterday on my commute. He suggested a Sabines. The ones I saw could have been winter Sabines, but I couldn't swear to it.
On Wednesday, saw a few fork-tailed petrels on my way to town.