I haven't had a daily quote since kayak building days, but Brad supplied this one on Monday in reference to a project we are pondering, which I guess I started working on. The quote was a good fit for the tasks that occupied me for most of this week; 501c forms, cleaning, cooking Thanksgiving dinner, species lists.
Saturday morning saw a Western Grebe just east of the end of Galankin Island.When I first saw it, I thought it was a rather strange looking loon. Binoculars really do help. The long, yellow bill , white breast and throat were rather distinctive. The only other time I remember seeing this grebe in Alaska was near the Stikene river.
On the way to town Saturday noon saw a bird that I can't quite identify. It was about the size of a skinny Hermit thrush. Brown back, head and tail, light uniformly colored breast. The head (front and back) had a distinct orange-gold cast to it. The bill wasn't different from what I'd expect on a thrush. It was turning over alder leaves in the trail in the commons. It tweeted a couple of times while foraging, it was a different sound than I've heard before. It tolerated my presence for awhile, but eventually flew off when I got close enough to see it clearly (what binoculars?). It had a solid brown tail, no other color was visible. Looked abit this morning, but no luck.
Had done enough grading that I felt free to spend most of Sunday outdoors. Thought I would just get a morning hike in before the weather fell apart, but was pleasantly surprised by a very nice day. Had decided to go up Indian river at least to the first bridge and beyond to look for Schistostega, ended up going a good deal further. Was encouraged to venture further by running into an old friend who was likewise out for a solitary wander. Discovered that we were headed the same general direction, so teamed up. Didn't cross the bridge but went up the old trail on the west side of the river. Soon found the upturned stump with an impressive growth of Schistostega. There was some good glowing gold under some roots that were hanging over one spot. On the way back down, I tried a headlamp survey and found alot more of the glowing protonema. I still wonder how long it takes for that moss to colonize a root wad. It seems that it can happen relatively quickly. This root was didn't have much else growing on it (not that I did a thorough survey). The hemlock didn't have any needles left in the branches, but the bark seemed to be well attached. I should have checked for amount of bryophytes growing on the upper side of the trunk, but didn't think of it when I was there. Didn't see any polypores to check orientation. Guess I need to find trees the year that they fall and take a series of photographs. Guess I'll have to get a camera and maybe even use it.
It was a very different view of the valley going up on the west side. Besides the view being the reverse of what I've usually seen, I wasn't racing for the trailhead for one reason or another. I still have the feeling that I could stay in the valley for several weeks and still have more to see. What I really noticed this trip was the amount of deer use. The vaccinium was heavily browsed in many places and there was alot of scat. Besides Vaccinium there is also alot of Cornus, Coptis and Rubus. Is there more of these upland plants in this valley are because of less disturbance than in larger river valleys or is my memory faulty about how much of these plants are in other valleys?
Was somewhat proud of myself when I found the big tree on my own. I wasn't sure that I could do it, especially given Paul's trouble. I just kept walking in what seemed the right direction. On one stop to look around, it just looked like the right place, without really being able to say why. Looked around another tree and there it was. Ate my pumpkin pie while doing homage to this giant. Still impressed by the size and the interesting architecture of the branches. I wonder what sort of forest this tree grew in. It seems that it must have been more open to maintain the lower branches.
Continued up the valley to explore some of the many creeks incising the slopes. Jay had been hunting further up the valley last weekend and wanted to see if he could find where he had shot his deer. A small voice was wondering about the wisdom of relocating a kill site and gut pile, but decided that further exploration was more compelling than over cautiousness. Went up along side one small creek then crossed over to another and another until we were across from the center of the middle Sister. The slope was home to an exceptionally nice stand of yellow cedar and hemlock. A number of the cedar were quite large and had luxurious growth of bryophytes. One patch of Isothecium cardottii covered about 10 ft of a large cedar and the mound that supported the tree. Collected a small piece of what seems to be Apometzgeria pubescens. It looked like a particularly robust Metzgeria, but in better light I could see that the hairs covered the entire surface of the liverwort. I had been looking for an east facing slope with yellow cedar for the epiphyte study. Definately found one.
The furthest point out we found an interesting dead tree. With a healthy imagination it looked like a turret. With a good stretch I could have climbed inside, but contented myself with leaning out the tower window. At 2pm decided that light was going to be at a premium, so started turning down valley, but stayed on the slope. For awhile I was wondering if this was a mistake. I was fairly sure that we were about to cliff ourselves. We still had options, the view over the falls looked alot like a cliff, but there was an alternative. We did manage to find a way into a ravine and out the other side without backtracking and found our way down a steep, but walkable slope.
On the way back stopped in two spots at the flats below dry channels with enough small debris to look like they had recently had been flooded. The rooted ferns looked a bit beat up and there were Polypodiums that had washed in. Maybe there is more disturbance here in the fall than I am aware of. Perhaps the abundant Adiantum and Polystichums are there because of the good drainage and the disturbance. I did notice again that the Polystichums in the steeper areas look like P. setigerum and the ones in the valley like P. braunii.
I'm surprised about the numbers of mushrooms I'm still seeing. Hydnum umbilicatum, Craterellus neotubaeformis, Hygrophorus (thigh-high stocking, okay I'm proud of this common name), Panellus serotinus, Pleurocybella porrigens and a new and quite bright yellow mushroom that looks alot like a Panellus serotinus growing on a very rotten red alder.
Returned to the trailhead just before 4pm, almost dark enough to require a headlamp in the denser canopy.
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