Life on the Outer Coast

I've been home for 15 + days, spent a reasonable amount of time looking at birds and plants, but haven't done quite so well at recording my observations. The week I was gone, and the warmer, sunny weather, made a noticable change in the birds observed and in the state of the vegetation.

Earlier this spring I had thoughts of doing a 1-3 day count of birds, similar to the Backyard Bird count. I didn't quite work out that way. Might have had something to do with it being the end of the semester.

The birds on the following list were mostly observed in Totem park and in the alders on Galankin Island from May 4 through May 17. There were other birds around that I didn't see (Whimbrels, Ruddy Turnstone, Eurasian Widgeon, Snow Goose, Semi-palmated plover, Townsend's and Orange Crowned warblers). The list of birds (in no particular order) I saw in the last couple of weeks includes:

Golden crowned sparrows
Fox sparrows
Song sparrows (including one without a tail, nor any trace of ever having one)
Savannah sparrows (mostly at the beach at Totem Park)
Varied Thrushes
Robins
Hermit Thrush (first singer in the garden on the 4th)
American Pipit (finally) several on the beach at Totem park
Pine siskins
Northern Flicker
Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier (at the park, May?, the white patch just above the tail was helpful)
Rufous Hummingbird
Winter wren
Golden Crowned Kinglets
Ruby Crowned Kinglets
Great Blue Heron
Kingfisher
Rock Dove
Oystercatchers (? at the park afternoon May 7th, 2 on the 17th)
Dunlin
Western Sandppiper
Rock Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper (5/17)
Greater Yellowlegs
Pacific Golden Plovers
Black bellied Plover
Dowitchers
Black Turnstones (hundreds at Totem park at low tide May 7th)
Surfbirds
Brant (park)
Canada Geese (park)
Swans (Swan Lake)
Common merganser
Buffleheads
Barrow's Goldeneye
Northern Shovelers (at the park, about 50 or so 5/ and for a week or so after this)
Pintails ( at the park)
American Widgeon
Green -winged teal
Mallards
Ring-necked duck (swan lake)
scaup
White-winged scoter
Pacific loon
Common loon
Red-necked Grebe (near Galankin dock)
Marbled murrelets
Pelagic cormorants
Mew gull
Glaucous winged gull
Thayers gulls
Herring gulls
Heard Western Screech owls

Decided to try a hummingbird feeder again. Found a window stick-on variety and decided to put it in the window next to the table. Haven't seen any activity as yet. One hummingbird ignored it and hit the window with some speed. I found it between the deck boards, clinging to the side of the board, beak down. I tried to pick it up (one finger on each side), but my attempt failed. It fell then flew off before it hit the ground below. Guess I should stick with botany.

In bloom: salmonberries, Ribes laxiflorum, Osmorhiza purpurea, Viola glabella, Coptis asplenifolia, Salix sitchensis, both species of alder are shedding pollen.

Had a meal of ladyfern fiddleheads, Chamerion angustifolium (from the garden), and Violets. I'm not as fond of the fireweed as I am of either of other plants. The fireweed had a bit of a lemony flavor that was good, but the lasting taste wasn't as good as the others.

Captured 2 mink and transported them to town. I decided to spray paint the back side of one of the two. I doubt if they make the trip back to the island, and one mink won't really answer the question, but might as well try.

resolving to do much better posting...