July 7


Left Reid Glacier at 8am bound for Elfin Cove vis South Marble Island. On the way out of the bay, passed several Arctic Terns on smallish ice bergs, Kittiwakes, Kittlitz and Marbled murrelets, and Tufted puffins near the mouth of Reid inlet.
South Marble island is a sea lion haul-out (Buster Hoffmaster shared his photo) and a sea bird breeding site. There are other similar sites in the park, but this is the only one that boats can approach as close as 50 yards.
Nesting birds reported from South Marble include: Glaucous-winged gulls (1999 minimum of 570 pairs), Pigeon Guillemots, Black-legged kittiwakes, Black Oystercatchers, Common and Thick-billed murres, Tufted and Horned Puffins, and Pelagic Cormorants. We managed to find all of the reported birds, plus Bald eagles and alot of mew gulls. We saw the one Horned puffin as it flew by the boat.
Found a few documents on the nesting birds of Marble island including this kind of entertaining report on Pigeon Guillemots.
http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/seabird_foragefish/products/reports/pigugu~1.pdf

I was kind of curious if there was any allowed harvest of Glaucous-winged gulls eggs from this island. Couldn't find anything in the park literature that addressed the question, but did finally find an answer in the posted regulations.
May 15 to June 30th Glaucous winged gull egg harvest is allowed by the Community of Hoonah (Harvest area: National Forest lands in Icy Strait and Cross Sound, including Middle Pass Rock near the Inian Islands, Table Rock in Cross Sound, and other traditional locations on the coast of Yakobi Island. The land and waters of Glacier Bay National Park remain closed to all subsistence harvesting [50 CFR Part 100.3]. (i)

Searching for the regs turned up this article in Current Anthropology on traditional environmental knowledge of the Huna Tlingit regarding sustainable Glaucous-winged gull egg harvest.
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/377666

Huna Tlingit Traditional Environmental Knowledge, Conservation, and the Management of a “Wilderness” Park1 by Eugene S. Hunn, Darryll R. Johnson, Priscilla N. Russell, and Thomas F. Thornton


"A study of Huna Tlingit traditional gull-egg harvests in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska, indicates that local traditional environmental knowledge includes a sophisticated appreciation of glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) nesting biology and behavior—in particular, an understanding of this gull as an indeterminate layer with a modal clutch size of three. The community has applied knowledge to the design of sustainable egg-harvesting strategies. The dominant strategy is to take eggs from nests with one or two eggs but leave nests with three or more; an alternative strategy advocates partial harvests from three-egg clutches. "


http://www.nps.gov/glba/naturescience/upload/Hunn_etal2007_GullEggHarvests.pdf

Found another related article (probably the same one, but with a different purpose) by the same people.
Huna Tlingit Gull Egg Harvests in Glacier Bay National Park
Eugene S. Hunn1, Darryll R. Johnson, Priscilla N. Russell, Thomas F. Thornton
http://www.nps.gov/glba/naturescience/upload/Hunn_etal2007_GullEggHarvests.pdf

The last section of the article was on management implications of the harvest

"Evidence to assess the impact of a given harvest practice over the long haul is rarely available. Thus, if subsistence egg harvests by Huna in Glacier Bay were to be legalized, there would remain considerable uncertainty with respect to the sustainability and appropriate scale of such harvests. The Glacier Bay National Park administration is in a difficult position; on the one hand charged to protect for all Americans Glacier Bay as a premier “wilderness” park, while on the other hand, recognizing that Huna Tlingit people have a legitimate interest in managing resources that constitute the material and symbolic foundation of their community. Park staff has worked with the Huna community since the completion of our study to help arrange the harvest of gull eggs at a small colony outside of the Park at Middle Pass Rock in Icy Straits, which has allowed elders and young people from the community to experience this traditional subsistence practice without fear of arrest for the first time in decades. However, the Middle Pass Rock colony is subject to stronger currents and wave action than is the case at the Marble Islands and thus is not safe for younger children. If the legal obstacles to the resumption of Huna Tlingit harvests in Glacier Bay can be resolved, the administrative details of a truly cooperative
management effort will still need to be hammered out, in the face of stiff opposition by those committed to the notion of parks as “wilderness,” on the one hand, and by indigenous
activists on the other who reject as illegitimate any federal presence in their traditional homeland."

Have to admit that I probably would have been in the camp of keep the park as a wilderness without any harvest of much of anything at one time in my life, but feel rather differently these days. It seems reasonable that a small, sustainable harvest could be allowed, but can see the difficulty of working out the details of that one.

We saw a multitude of humpbacks between Gustavus point and Lemesurier island.
Proceeded out of the park and west through the passes to Elfin cove. At the east side of Lemesurier Island the fleet passed by two sea otters eating an octopus. They let us pass very close by, perhaps reluctant to risk losing their large meal. We couldn't tell exactly how large the octopus had been, but it didn't look particularly small. The otters were about 4-5 ft apart in the water. This pair were chewing on the legs and less often on the membranes of the head. Apparently octopus eating isn't unusual, in fact some otters prefer a diet of big molluscs if they can get it.

Between Lemesurier and Inian islands found a small group of Ancient murrelets mixed in with the Marbled ones. The white neck area stands out pretty clearly.

Arrived at Elfin Cove around 6pm.

July 6

After the wind died down in Reid Inlet we moved back aboard Deception and went ashore. I was pretty anxious to see the plants that were growing near the glacier, in fact I was almost ready to swim by the time we were able to go.

We first went to the eastern shore which was closest to the boat. Found Shephardia canadensis, several willows, Dryas drummondii with fruit and Hedysarum alpinum.

Shortly after we started walking on the beach, the Black-legged Kittiwakes started dive bombing us. We didn't see any young Kittiwakes in the area. We did see Semi-palmated plover adults and chicks amongst the Dryas.

Also was able to get fairly close to a pair of Oystercatchers on the beach. Again I didn't see any young or a nest, but we didn't look for long as we were trying to escape the Kittiwakes and avoid stepping on any nests.

We went across to the other side of the glacier to meet the other folks who wanted to see the ice up close. I wandered off looking for more plants and birds. I was told that there were Snow buntings in the area last year.

No luck on the buntings, but I did see several American Pipits and Golden crowned

sparrows amongst the willows.

Plants on the west side included: Dryas drummondii (blooming), Chamerion latifolium, Pyrola chlorantha, Antennaria, ARabis hirsuta, Hedysarum alpinum and 5 species of willows and a ground cover of Philonotis fontana in the seeps.

Found pink macomas on the beach and a reasonable amount of Fucus. Impressive in the silty, cold water.

On the way back to the boat, passed a small flock of Harelequins.

July 6

Left Bartlett cove at 8am aboard the Arctic Dream, traveling up bay along the west side of Willoughby, Francis and Drake islands to Tarr Inlet.

It was rainy and the ceiling was fairly low for an hour or so. The low clouds made the ice bergs appear rather ghostly. We started to see ice bergs near Blue Mouse Cove, they were traveling down bay with the tide. Some of the bergs were black with sediment, others very clear of debris. Given how dark with sediment and rock the Grand Pacific Glacier is, I suspect that the darkest bergs are from that glacier, but I'm not sure. We had great views of the Lamplugh, Reid, John Hopkins, Margerie and Grand Pacific glaciers on the trip up the west arm of the bay.

Lamplugh Glacier

Lamplugh Glacier is a stable or slowly retreating glacier. It is 16 miles long, 3/4 of a mile wide and moves 1,200 ft each year. It was named after an British geologist, George Lamplugh, 1859-1926 who visited the bay in 1884.

We stopped moving up bay around the Margerie Glacier as the ice was very thick in the water. I was wishing that we had a steel hull instead of fiberglass. The path through the ice would close and open as we approached the glacier, the photo was taken at a relatively ice berg free moment.

The folded appearing sediment and ice in the face of the Margerie glacier was pretty interesting. I' m assuming that the eye shape was formed by folding of layers of ice and sediment,

Margerie Glacier

but I suppose that it could have been formed in other ways. Perhaps a large fissure was formed and one side collapsed on the other? I suppose that the folding could occur as the glacier moved through a narrower point of resistant rock?

The Margerie is a stable glacier, niether receding or advancing. It towers about 250ft above the water line, and to 100ft below it. The glacier is 21 miles long and one mile wide. It was named after Emmanuel de Margerie 1862-1953, a french geologist, who visited the bay in 1913. Both the Margerie and Lamplugh were named by Lawrence Martin of the USGS. There was a cliff adjacent to the Margerie is a large Kittiwake breeding colony. Every tiny bit of a ledge seemed like it had a bird sitting on it. Apparently Horned and Tufted puffins, Arctic Terns and Glaucuous winged gulls also nest on the cliffs. There is a bit of a discussion of this colony at the following website http://www.inforain.org/glacierbay/CATALOG/HTM/ICEEDGE.HTM

The Grand Pacific Glacier was named by John Muir in 1879. Apparently when Muir named it, the glacier it was joined with what would be called the John Hopkins and the Reid glaciers. In 1892, after recession had seperated the glaciers, Muir retained the name Grand Pacific for the largest and most northerly arm and named the middle arm John Hopkins. The Reid was named by the Harriman Expedition in 1899.

The wind started to pick up so we backtracked to anchor in Reid inlet. The wind was pretty fierce (35 kts) off the glacier in the afternoon. Fortunately it died down in the evening.

Saw what I presume to have been a female (mom) bear and an older cub (2 years?) along the beach at Russell island. She was pretty intently investigating something on the beach, while the other bear sat and watched. After a few minutes she went up into the brush and a few minutes later the younger one followed.

According to the Park visitor's guide the Reid Glacier is about 9.5 miles long and flows about 800ft each year. It is slowly receding, but is still quite close to being a tidewater glacier. The face varies from 20 to 130 ft above the water line.

The photo was taken just before low tide in the evening.

What was really striking for me in Glacier bay was being able to see the shape of the land without vegetation. I'm only accustomed to seeing relatively bare rock if the temperature, slope or water level is preventing establishment of much vegetation. This isn't a great photo, but the active fan and incised slopes are quite easy to see. There are plenty of places in Tenakee Inlet or Hoonah sound that look like this if one adds some rain forest. Interesting to see the land before the vegetation really takes hold.

Finally saw what I could positively say was a Kittlitz's murrelet. We saw several. They are distinctly lighter, more golden in color and much more difficult to see against the silty water. There were also a multitude of Marbled murrelets, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Glaucous winged and Bonaparte's gulls, Arctic Terns and a few Pigeon Guillemots.

July 5th



Last night the lodge was awash with rumors of Harrison Ford. How could I sleep?


As we were staying in Bartlett Cove for another night, Martin, Ingrid and I decided to walk the the trail to Bartlett Lake. Brave of me in my wellies to chase after a pair of "fast walkers" in trainers. I was fulfilling my role as a colorful semi-local with my fashionable attire and was duly photographed.




The trail wandered along a moraine through mature spruce/western hemlock forest. The area was under ice in 1794 and the oldest trees were around 200 years old according to an article I found. The trees weren't even aged and there were standing dead and live trees with polypores. The stand did have more Sitka spruce than Western hemlock, relatively few shrubs (Vaccinium and Oplopanax), alot of moss and a variable amount of herbs. The herbs along the trail included; Rubus pedatus, Cornus canadensis, Goodyera oblongifolia, Pyrola asarifolia, Orthilia secunda, Moneses uniflora, and Listera cordata (a few sites with L. caurina). More Lobaria in the trees than I usually see in Sitka forests. Preference for Sitka spruce as host? The other difference was the predominance of Ganoderma applanatum instead of Fomitopsis. One large polypore was about 1.5 ft across.


The tree stocking is relatively dense, but the trees aren't that large. The topography is relatively flat and the till could be limiting drainage, the result of both of these factors could be a less productive site for trees. There are some small gaps in the overstory, which would allow light to the forest floor, but not alot.

There were several kettle ponds along the trail, these had Equisetum fluviatile, E. arvense, Platanthera dilatata, Menyanthes trifoliata and Nuphar polysepalum.

One odd thing about the trail was the prescence of old cottonwood leaves along the trail. We spent alot of time looking for cottonwood trees, but couldn't find any nearby in the forest. We did find a few cottonwoods around the lake, but none closer.

Ate lunch at the lake and decided to walk around (actually Martin decided to walk around and Ingrid and I followed).

The lake edge was often a mat of floating sphagnum, inboard of that was Equisetum arvense and Eriophorum chamissonis. The equisetum continued for a distance under the trees, kind of a unique sight for me.

Also found several bright yellow slime molds on moss and on the base of one tree. They could be Fuligo septica, but I'm not to sure about that identification.

Found 3 spindly Viburnum edule just landward of the sphagnum mat. I expected to see more Highbush cranberry around the lake as I associate it with both that habitat and the mainland.

We continued around the lake, walking was pretty easy as there weren't alot of shrubs.

On the far side of the lake we found several interesting things. The first was several Shephardia canadensis (Soapberry or Buffaloberry). This shrub is relativelly easy to recognize because of the opposite leaves which have small brownish rust scales on the underside. I haven't seen this shrub often in southeast, the other spot that comes to mind is up the Wright river (Taku Inlet) in a forest dominated by Subalpine fir. Shephardia is another shrub associated with nitrogen fixing actinomycetes (Frankia).

The other unusual plant (for me) was Pyrola chlorantha (aka P. virens). This species of Pyrola has greenish flowers borne around the stem, not along one side as in Orthilia secunda.

Also found a funnel shaped black fungus with irregular tomentum or teeth on the outer surface. Haven't figured that one out as yet. It looks most like a tough Coltricia or maybe a Phellodon.

The last puzzle found on the way around was a large sternum of a bird.

Haven't managed to identify it as yet. We guessed that it was at least 6 inches long and 4 inches wide.

Continued around the lake, thankfully we didn't get cut off 3/4 of the way around, and back down the trail. We spent 6 hours on the hike and covered about 12 miles. Kind of a speedy pace for me.

Birds: Winter wrens, chestnut-backed chickadees, Swainsons, Hermit, and Varied thrush, Robins, Golden crowned kinglets and a Blue grouse (whomper). We did find a nest (about 10 inches across) on a rock about 4 ft off shore in the lake. No sign of the parents or chicks.

Lots of red squirrel, moose and black bear sign and a mustelid scat on the trail.

July 4th

The flotilla left Swanson Harbor at 7am for Bartlett Cove. Left very early because of the very low tide that might be an issue for the boats on the shore side of the float. Emmelina, Jordan and I traveled on board the Majestic Eagle. Permits have been obtained for the four client boats to enter the park, but the permit for Deception isn't availabale until the 6th of July.

The weather in Icy Strait was very calm, with low clouds and occasional rain. We sat up on the fly bridge for the first couple of hours until the cold got to us. Near Pleasant Island the birds and marine mamals sightings increased (scads of Marbled murrelets). Most of the humpbacks were seen in the distance toward Pt. Adolphus. Did see one Minke whale relatively close. The dorsal fin was very curved and more prominant than that of a humpback. Also saw Sea otters, Harbor seals and Steller's sea lions along the way.

Other birds along the way: Common Murres, Pigeon Guillemots, Fork-tailed Storm petrels, 2 Common loons, 2 Common mergansers, Phalaropes (disputed the species), Parasitic Jaeger, Bonapartes Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwakes, and one or two Herring Gulls.

We completed our radio check in with the park service required for a boat to enter Glacier Bay. Proceeded to Barlett Cove dock to attend an orientation presentation. Arrived and tied up at the dock at 1pm. Many Barn swallows were flying over the dock. They were flying low over the dock feasting on the abundant insects. They seem to be nesting under the large pier adjacent to the dock, at least the noise coming from under the pier sounded like begging juveniles.

After the orientation and checking into the lodge, several of us walked the Barlett River trail (about 2.5 miles one way). Bartlett River is a 14 mile long river running through the relatively mature Sitka spruce/western hemlock forest. It turned out to be a good day for wildlife.

Walked out of the front door of the lodge, down the access road and out of the woods came a young, but rather large moose. As soon as it saw us, it turned and ran down the road and into the woods again.

Saw lots of Black bear and moose scat along the trail, but the highlight was at long last seeing a Short-tailed weasel.

Emmelina (leading the pack) heard an odd sound or saw some movement beside the trail and found a dead vole on its back on the boardwalk cross beam. We heard some insistant sounding squeaking from close by (under the boardwalk)and decided to walk on just a bit to see if the animal would come back for its dinner. We moved about 5 steps down the path and a very small, lean and long weasel peeked out from under the boardwalk. It squeeked a few more times, grabbed the vole and squeeked some more. It didn't run off right away, but moved from about a foot or so and squeeked at us again (actually did this a couple of times) then ran off with the vole in its mouth. Squeek isn't a very good description, but it sounded alot like a mink.

It seemed rather like it was letting us know that we had seriously interfered with its dinner plans. Glad that weasels aren't the size of dogs or it would have eaten all of us.

The open meadow near the trail end had an interesting mix of plants including; Fragaria chiloensis, Equisetum arvense, Platanthera dilatata, Lupinus nootkatensis, Triantha glutinosa, Hedysarum alpinum (earlier thought it was a weird Astragalus), and Eriophorum chamissonis.

There were a variety of colors of Castilleja blooming along the meadow. Not sure if they are hybrids or just normal color variation in Yellow paintbrush. The key differences between Red and Yellow Paintbrush seem a little nebulous. Yellow Paintbrush has yellow or yellow-orange bracts with obtuse to round tips and Red Paintbrush has red (rarely yellow) bracts obtuse to acute tips. So what to do with the obtuse yellow orange paintbrush?

The photo of Bartlett river is courtesy of a fellow traveler, Buster Hoffmaster.

July 3rd

The fleet departed Auke Bay harbor at 8am under sunny skies for Swanson Harbor. Between the harbor and Shelter Island saw Surf scoters, White winged scoters, Harlequin, 6 Great Blue herons, Pigeon Guillemots, 3 eagles and 1 Humpback whale and well as lots of Marbled murrelets.
South of Point Retreat encountered a pod of 12 orcas a reasonable distance away. Fortunately for us they were traveling in our direction. Not sure if it was related to our presence or not, but one Orca was spy hopping as we closed the distance. There was one very small one in the pod. At the closest view, it was rather pink instead of white like the older ones. Apparently the relative newborns are rather pink.
Checked the dorsal fins against a photo book of local Orcas in Bartlett cove and matched a few dorsal fins to confirm that it was a resident pod. Unfortunately, I didn’t make note of the identity of the individuals.

Closer to Couverdon we were treated to a impressive sight. A group of 6 or 7 humpback whales bubble feeding. Not just once, but about 10 times. They swam short distances between bubble sessions, in one spot they fed about 3 times before moving on.
One whale didn’t participate, but stayed a short distance off while the rest bubble fed.

We tore ourselves away from the whales and proceeded to Swanson Harbor. I could see roses amongst the thimbleberries on the way into the cove and had my boots on by the time we were tied up at the public float. This became my regular behavior pattern on the trip. Once close to land, I was ready to explore.
There were 5 or 6 oystercatchers on the beach near the float.

I started out on my own for a beach walk along the shore and was joined a bit later by the most of the rest of the folks. Being on my own gave me time to check out the roses, and to bushwack my way through the very thick Thimbleberries into the forest without dragging people along for the trip. The roses are Nootkas (few thorns, large flowers). There was only one rather large and upright Crabapple (Malus fusca) among the thimbleberries. The path into the forest had Black currant (Ribes lacustre) and Baneberry.
An unusually large uplifted beach step (about 6 to 8 ft) was between the beach area and the forest. The shore isn’t wave cut, so I’m attributing the large step to rebound.
In the forest (Hemlock and Sitka Spruce, Blueberry, Menziesia, Goodyera oblongifolia, and Corallorhiza mertensiana.

I joined the rest of the group for the meadow walk. Lots of blooming herbs in the upper part of the beach, Angelica genuflexa, Castilleja unalaschensis, C. miniata, Ranunculus orthorhynchus (red achenes and yellow petals with reddish tinge on the outer surface). Heracleum maximum, Achellea millefolium, Geranium erianthum, Equisetum arvense, Dodecatheon pulchelllum. The grasses were blooming as well (quickly ate a Claritin).

Identifying the Ranunculus gave me a bit of a hard time.
I had a vague memory of a species with red on the outer petals, but couldn't for the life of me remember which species it was. I kind of wanted for the mystery Ranunculus to be pacificus, a species that I don't believe I've seen before. The mystery buttercup fits orthorhynchus a bit better though.

Walked down the beach and back through the woods. Moose pellets was not unusual in the woods, most of it looked old. We did find some newer scat in a fern dominated meadow that we found. I had avoided the spot earlier because I thought the opening was blow down, but was intrigued by the light in the opening and had to check it out. The opening had some of the largest Skunk cabbage I've seen in awhile at the edge. The opening turned out to be a Lady fern dominated meadow. There was also Iris setosa, Platathera dilatata, and Caltha palustris.

July 2
Nice sunny day. I helped Emmelina with shopping for the trip and did a bit of wandering around Auke Bay. I had a little time before shopping to search out a plant that Jordan had seen on his way to UAS via the highway. It turned out to be a cultivated mint, Ajuga. On the way found a very healthy looking population of Platathera dilatata.

We finished the day with an orientation dinner for the cast and crew of Northwest explorations at Thane Ore house. I hadn’t really asked any questions about this trip when I agreed to go, just the dates. Now I have a better idea of what I’m in for. There are four boats following the Deception in the Grand Banks flotilla. The Navigator (Liz and Buster from Austin and Ingrid and Martin from Port Hadlock, WA), the Mystic Eagle (Bob and Maryann (CN) and Ken and Joanne (NJ), Arctic Dream (Bob and Pamela (Vancouver, BC) and Lady of Shalot (Lorenzo, Mario, Adolfo, and Giorgio from Genoa).

Deception is 52ft overall (49ft), beam between 12 and 16ft and draws 4ft of water. It is equipped with twin Lehman diesel engines, 2 generators (15 and 5kw), a water maker and every comfort of a rather fancy home. I don’t believe I’ve ever been on a smallish boat and been allowed to shower daily. Even with 5 people, it didn’t feel overly crowded. Emmelina and I share a cabin, it calls for coordinated use of the space, but not difficult at all.

July 1
Presumably left Sitka for Juneau at 2:30 am on board the Taku. Presumably only because I was asleep in my cabin. Woke up around 7:30, ate breakfast and went back to sleep.
Aaron and Darwin picked me up at the dock, applied coffee to my brain and we went to Mendenhall wetlands. It was the first time that I’ve walked on the trail, previously I’ve just looked at the wetlands from a distance. The goal of the walk was reaching a grove of spruce that was surrounding a nice patch of Cladonias.
One of the obvious differences between the vegetation around Juneau and Sitka is the abundance of Cottonwoods, Willows and Thimbleberry along the roads and trails. Another plant we don’t have around Sitka is Pyrola asarifolia. There was a blooming patch in a grove of young Sitka spruce beside the path.
Another plant I don’t see at home is Orange Hawkweed. It was blooming on the banks where the path went along the sloughs and float plane ponds. It has rather attractive and intensely bright flowers; maybe it should be controlled by promoting it as a cut flower.

Cut across the tidally influenced flats to the spruce grove. In the flats, lots of
Glaux, Puccinellia and a fleshy looking Stellaria. I collected several of the Cladina looking Cladonias from the spruce grove.
Blooming in the meadow parts of the wetlands was Castilleja unalaschensis and Angelica lucida.
Saw one Yellow-rumped warbler (Myrtle) in a willow along the trail. Also saw several Savannah sparrows, a Yellow legs and a Kingfisher.

Briefly visited the Mendenhall glacier (a bagillion tourists and buses). There is one Silene acaulis on the rock just below the visitor center. Also found another plant I don’t see too often, Saxifraga tricuspidata blooming closer to the parking lot. We could hear one tern, largely ignored by the people, talking away.

Aaron and friends introduced me to Disc Golf that evening. There is a course near Auke Bay. It is kind of a unusual sport, but entertaining. Throwing a smallish disc through trees into a metal basket is a different way of spending time in the forest than I’ve done previously . Not surprised that I have no cross body power, but happily discovered that I do fine throwing open armed. I managed to make a few holes on par, but not many. Needless to say my arm was tired after 18 holes and I lost by a lot. Aaron said he did a lot of his botanizing while searching for stray discs, the plant that drew my interest on a disc search was a blooming Cornus stolonifera/sericea. Climbing a willow to retrieve a disc was entertaining as well.

Yoga Workshop

Friday evening through Sunday lunch took a 3 day yoga intensive from Julie Lawrence from Portland, Oregon.

It is rather difficult to sum up three days of intensive practice, so maybe I won't try. The most enjoyable aspect of almost any workshop is being able to focus on one thing I enjoy for a number of hours. She has emphasized the need for practice, non-attachment to any given outcome of the practice and honesty. Oh, then there is abdominal enlightenment. Daily abdominal enlightment is encouraged.

What I've really enjoyed are the poems or readings with which she starts class. Three out of four of the readings made it into this post. The fourth didn't stick with me.

Our True Home

Our true home is in the present moment.
To live in the present moment is a miracle
The miracle is not to walk on water
The micracle is to walk the green Earth in the present moment,
to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.
Peace is all around us
in the world and in nature
and within us
in our bodies and our spirits.
Once we learn to touch this peace,
we will be healed and transformed.
It is not a matter of faith;
it is a matter of practice.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The second morning Julie shared this poem by the late poet laureate of Oregon, William Stafford

The Way It Is

There's a thread you follow.
It goes among things that change.
But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can't get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.
You don't ever let go of that thread.

William Stafford


The last morning, Julie started with a small piece of a T.S. Eliot poem (The Four Quartets 4: Little Gidding). I found the complete version at http://www.tristan.icom43.net/quartets/gidding.html


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.


The first of the Nootka lupines and Northern Geraniums are blooming in the garden

Some Spring Fungi

I've encountered a few new to me fungi this last week, one Polyporus and two Ascomycetes.

Polyporus sp. is a fungus I found on a red alder log and later on an Elderberry near the first bridge on the Indian River trail. It is a stipitate Polypore with a darker stem base, at least on older individuals. Some of the population have distinct stipes and caps others in the same population are more funnel or vase-shaped. In either case the pore layer is white. The cap looks like it has soft or fine tomentum, but none is apparent by touch. The upper surface has concentric bands of color (browns, tans) in some individuals, others are fairly uniform. The margins are wavy in older individuals. The odor is pleasantly mushroomy.

The only name I can find that vaguely fits is P. badius (P. picipes), but I'm not sure what all of the options could be. P. badius is a white rot fungus.

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/polyporus_badius.html has a useful description and a useful key http://www.mushroomexpert.com/polypores_stemmed_pale.html

I've edited the following description extracted from mycobank http://www.mycobank.org/MycoTaxo.aspx?Link=T&Rec=456026

Basidiocarps annual, laterally to centrally stipitate, solitary or clustered; pileus circular or flabelliform, up to 15 cm wide; upper surface light chestnut brown to dark blackish brown, often darker in the center, azonate to radially striate, glabrous, smooth or rugose on drying; pore surface white to pale buff, pores circular to angular, 5-8 per mm, tube layer white when young, becoming slightly darker than the context, up to 1 mm thick, decurrent on the stipe; context pale buff, azonate, corky, up to 1.5 cm thick; stipe black and minutely tomentose at the base, chestnut brown and glabrous at the apex, up to 5 cm thick.Hyphal system dimitic; contextual generative hyphae thin-walled, simple-septate, 3-5 µm in diam, inconspicuous in mature specimens, forming a cutis on the pilear surface and a palisade on the stipe surface; contextual skeleto-binding hyphae thick-walled, aseptate, with dendroid branching to narrow tapered tips, 3-5 µm in diam; tramal hyphae similar; gloeoplerous hyphae also present.Basidia clavate with a narrow base, 1-4-sterigmate, 20-30 x 7-9 µm, simple-septate at the base. Basidiospores cylindric, 7.5-9 x 3-3.5 µm. Substrata. Dead wood of numerous hardwood genera such as Acer, Aesculus, Alnus, Betula, Castanea, Fagus, Fraxinus, Populus, Prunus, Robinia, Quercus, Salix, rilia, and Ulmus, also found on Pinus and Picea.Distribution. Temperate species found in Europe, North America and Asia.

Mitrula is a small ascomycete in the Helotiales, Geoglossaceae. Mitrula are also called Bog or Swamp Beacons. It was growing on or around the old leaf bases of Skunk Cabbage in the meadow/muskeg near the Indian River trail. It was found in similar habitat in another muskeg. The genus is found on submerged decaying vegetation in stagnant or slow moving water. Mitrula is considered aero-aquatic, that is the apothecia are above the water. They were solitary or in groups. Inidividuals were up to an inch, maybe 1.5 inches tall.

The fruiting body consists of a clear stem and a cylindrical orange to yellowish orange head. Under the scope they have been less than cooperative in yielding their ascospores. Ascospores are the definitive characteristic needed to distinguish M. elegans from M. borealis. M. elegans has cylindrical spores that lack a gelatinous sheath and M. borealis has elliptical spores. M. borealis is smaller than elegans and has a hyaline stipe as opposed to a white or faintly pinkish stipe in M. elegans.
The spores in the collected fungus seem to be rather narrow, so for now I'm calling this fungus M. elegans.
The photo at the following link shows a more irregular head than those I found, but it is at least a start. http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Mitrula_elegans.html

An interesting article on the life history and relationships of the species of Mitrula can be found at the following link http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/92/9/1565
The importance of ascomycetes in decompostion in fresh water was noted in the article, in fact they cited a source reporting 75% of the fungal biomass in underwater systems are Ascomycetes. This fits with the prevalence of the dark septate fungi in the root systems of the muskeg plants. Wonder if we should shift to Ascomycete primers for laccase enzymes?

Vibrissea truncorum or Water Club is a relative of the Bog Beacon. It was growing on submerged or emergent sticks in a small creek. They looked like small orange cups from a distance, but up close had short stalks (less than an inch) and orange cap-like heads. The stalks were light colored with dark hairs. The caps were kind of gelatinous or fleshy looking, but didn't seem particularly sticky.
The spores were very odd, in fact it took a bit of convincing that I was looking at spores at all. Instead of the round or oval spores, these were quite thin and kind of thread-like. Apparently when mature, the spores project out of the ascus and vibrate in te running water. This gives the apothecia a white silky appearance (Mushroooms of Idaho and the PNW, Vol. 1 Discomycetes, by E. Tylutki).
I found a reasonable photo at http://www.treknature.com/gallery/Europe/Czech_Republic/photo107644.htm

Found this piece of shell late last week on a short walk up Indian River trail. I had about a half an hour, so thought to look at the mosses in a small creek that crosses the trail. Didn't find any new and different mosses, but did find this egg shell. It is a bit greener than shows in the photo. Lacking a book with photos of eggs, I've been scavenging around on the internet for something similar. So far the closest match is a crow, but I'm not certain.

In other bird news; found a nest in the young trees beside the path to the burn pile. Jeff was clearing trees and fortunately noticed one of the parents trying to lure him away and saw the nest. He wasn't sure what sort of bird it was, but thought it might have been a hermit thrush.
There is another young tree next to the nest tree with a convenient branch that affords a view into the nest. I climbed up the next morning to see what was in the nest and found 2 or 3 feathered young. Was thinking that the Hermit thrushes hadn't been around long enough to produce feathered young, but wasn't sure. The light was poor enough that I couldn't tell if the birds were moving, but assumed that all was well. Peeked again the next day and could see the birds chests moving rather rapidly. Too curious to wait any longer, so on June 5th decided to sit out by the nest until I saw the parents. I sat about 10ft away and it didn't take long for the parents to appear. They were song sparrows. I was sitting quietly for about 3 minutes when one parent landed in the blueberry next to me. He/She had a worm or larva in its bill when it landed. She/he started scolding me in a low key fashion, then the other parent landed on the other side of me. The two scolded back and forth and I held very still and tried to relax and keep my breathing even to see if they would decide I wasn't much of a threat. I probably should have given it a bit longer, but was concerned I was bothering them too much, so quietly got up and left.

The hummingbirds have finally decided that the window feeder is a good source of nectar. Have been treated to Rufous hummers feeding this morning (Friday). Not sure yet if it is one bird or a few. Kind of nice having the birds about 2ft away even if it is through a window.

Indian River Falls

Jeanne Stolberg and I went on our annual hike to Indian River falls. Typically we go during spring break, but weren't able to do so this year. I may opt to permanently move the traditional hike to June as today was especially nice.

We started out around 9:30 in somewhat cloudy, but warm weather. Made reasonable time to the first bridge, then started ambling a bit after that. We didn't see anyone else on the trail until 3/4 of the way to the falls.

The slide area about 5 minutes from the falls has had some recent activity. The relatively unvegetated area of the slide is about 60ft wide, full of snow and covered with dirt and some plant debris. Haven't been able to determine when the most recent slide occured, not that I've asked too many people.

There are more Polystichum andersonii along the trail than I remembered, but it has been awhile since I've been to the falls in the summer. Maybe I've only been to the falls once in the summer? Anyway, several of the P. andersonii had growing buds at the end of last year's fronds. Most of the bud fronds were less than an inch tall, did see one about 4 inches tall. Not sure if more than one bud will grow from each frond or if the first to grow excretes some sort of chemical to inhibit growth of the other buds. Could easily envision a population of P. andersonii colonizing an unoccupied space, each old frond producing a few new plants around itself. It would be interesting to see if one could start a colony from one or two plants. According to FNA, P. andersonii is an allotetraploid resulting from P. munitum and P. kwakuilti. There seems to be a certain amount of variation in the division of the pinnules of the fronds, but I haven't been able to conjure any of the local ferns into P. kwakuilti.
The Polystichum (at least braunii and andersonii) have an interesting way of developing. Like Lady ferns, they start as a fiddlehead, but go through a bit of a backbend phase before they become totally erect. That is the base of the fronds is erect and the tips are reflexed away from center and the tips are curled up in a fiddlehead.

The falls, like the river had alot of water. Where we have eaten lunch the last few years was under water. There was a debris dam across the river below the falls. Thought that a dipper was using the dam as a nest site, but didn't watch long enough to be certain. Also saw a winter wren and a Hermit thrush on the dam. The snow was gone around the falls, the Ribes bracteosum was blooming on the slopes around the debris dam.
Only looked briefly at the mosses near the gravel bar; lots of Hypnum dieckii, Codriphorus aciculare, C. ryszardii and Oligotrichum aligerum on the shady side of a rock.
Did find Nephroma bellum on an elderberry growing in the gravel bar where we ate lunch.

After lunch, we decided to explore the forest between the slide and the falls. This stand has escaped recent slides (at least a couple of hundred years?). There are blueberries (well chewed) and a variety of herbs in the understory. Memorable was the abundant blooming Streptopus streptopoides and Listera cordata. I haven't seen S. streptopoides blooming for a number of years. Probably just haven't bothered to turn over a leaf at the right time of year.

Collected Amphidium lapponicum from a boulder on the falls side of the slide on the way back. It is a small clump forming moss with capsules somewhat similar in form to the more familiar Orthotrichums and Ulotas. At maturity, this moss has a ribbed capsule that is flared at the mouth and lacks a peristome.
On the way down stopped at a small muskeg uphill from the trail. It was kind of an odd looking place. There were areas that looked like Trichophorum/Carex dominated muskeg and others had more grass (Calamagrostis), Viola, Chocolate lily and Shooting Star. There were a few alders and some Cow parsnip as well. The muskeg wasn't quite divided in half between meadow and muskeg, however there was a clear division between the areas. THe meadow areas had exposed ash in a few spots. Makes me wonder if depth to ash is controlling the water table. Yes, ash can be used (inapppropriately) to explain everything. Anyway, why on a similar slope is one area typical muskeg and the other areas more meadow like? Need to take the shovel next time and look at depths of organic matter.
The Shooting stars were blooming and the fragrance was rather pleasant. Okay, I couldn' t keep myself from sticking my nose in many flowers. It is one of my favorite fragrances, intense, but not cloying. Also was treated to bumblebees pollinating the flowers. Buzz pollen removal is kind of an interesting thing. Vibrating the pollen loose from the anthers makes a kind of a buzzier buzz sound than the usual bee noises.
The Violets are making me a little crazy. There are four species of blue violets included in Hall; langsdorfii, palustris, adunca and selkirkii. V. palustris has stolons, V. adunca has more oval-elongate leaves, V. selkirkii has hairy leaves and lacks hairs on the petals. Doesn't seem like V. selkirkii is an option for our area, so stolons and leaf shape seem to be the important characters to notice. Admittedly I could be missing the stolons, but the violets in the meadow look like V. langsdorfii or Alaska violet.
Also abundant and blooming in the meadow was Coptis trifoliata, Trichophorum caespitosum and a few Vaccinium caespitosum. There were Equisetum arvense fruiting as well.
There was a small rill running through the muskeg with Skunk Cabbage. In a few of the old leaf bases was a small ascomycete, Mitrula (elegans or borealis) or bog beacon. It is a very small (1.5-2 inch tall) stalked fungus. I'll discuss this one further in another entry on spring fungi.

Collected a few aquatic mosses from the small waterways near the trail; Chiloscyphus polyanthos and Jungermannia (still haven't decided which one), and Hygrohypnum ochraceum. There may have been a bit of Campylium stellatum (very squarrose) in the mix, but I haven't relocated the strand to verify.
We did see/hear several Sapsuckers, Varied and Hermit Thrushes, Robins, Dippers, Winter wrens, and chickadees along the trail.

Found several of these beetles under the 3 5-gallon buckets of rotting herring eggs left at the head of the dock. The eggs were collected in the aftermath of the Crow Island adventure, so they have been decomposing for a few weeks. I'm sure that the neighbors enjoyed the smell.

When the buckets were moved, several of these distinctive beetles scurried away. I grabbed one and tossed it in a bucket for the trip home.

Relocating a dark beetle in a bucket of gooey eggs was kind of iffy, but I got lucky and found the beetle. It took several rounds of cooling off in the refrigerator to manage even this quality of photo. Let's say this guy was active.


Found a name for the beetle in " Bugs of Alberta";Creophilus maxillosus or Hairy Rove beetle. BugGuide, http://bugguide.net/node/view/15625 has a synopsis of its characteristics and distribution.
The yellow bands on its abdomen, short wing covers and visibly segmented abdomen seem like useful recognition characteristics.

I shouldn't be surprised to find interesting and unfamiliar places very close to trails that I have walked on many times. Surprised may not be the best verb to describe my reaction to this place, surprise kind of implies somthing completely unexpected. As I expect to find almost any place here interesting, it is more like having a curtain opened to a room that you had no idea was there.
Anyway, the toeslopes (between the Cross trail and the muskegs) of Gavan hill are rather interesting for a couple of reasons, one is the mixture of conifers that occur and the second is the density of the stand. There are Yellow cedar (X. nootkatensis), Western Hemlock (T.heterophylla), some Sitka Spruce (P.sitchensis) and most unusual, there are relatively large (40ft +?), straight trunked Shore pine (Pinus contorta var. contorta). I can't remember if there are any Mountain hemlock (T. mertensiana) in the stand. The sites I typically associate with such mixtures of species are poorly drained areas on flat terrain. Not so in this site. This stand seems to more the result of disturbance (logging, fire ?) and perhaps other site limitations (soil depth ?). This stand is dense and the trees are relatively small, but drainage doesn't seem to be the driving factor in stand characteristics. I need to take a shovel and a tree corer to get a better sense of this place.

It was the mosses in this site that attracted my attention most recently. Or maybe the combination of mosses found on the cedars. Present were what seem to be the regular epiphytes; Isothecium cardotti, Metzgeria conjugata (and perhaps some M. temperata), Radula bolanderi, and Frullania nisquallensis.
What seemed a bit different was the occurence of Hookeria lucens at the base of most or at least many of the cedars. I tend to think of Hookeria as occuring in wet, shady sites, sometimes on mineral soil, never on rock. I hadn't previously seen it at the base of trees.
Apometzgeria pubescens was another species I hadn't previously noticed on cedar. It was apparently different even without my glasses. The distinctive characteristic of this liverwort is the hairs on the upper surface of the thallus. The hairs give it a dull green color and a fuzzy appearance. In Jean Paton's "Liverwort Flora of The British Isles", Apometzgeria pubescens is a calcicole which rarely spreads to the bases of trees. Yellow cedar seems to be habitat for a number of calcicole bryophytes, eg Tortella tortuosa.
Claopodium crispifolium was found on the same cedar (?). I may have overlooked this one as it looks kind of like a dull sort of Hypnum. However at first glance, it looked more like a Thuidium or Helodium to me. This species does like a bit different, even to a far-sighted woman, it seems a bit duller or fuzzier. Good characteristics are the strong costa (midrib) which is hyaline, serrate leaf margins and the papillose leaf cells. The plants are somewhat regularly pinnate, yellow green like many Hypnums and have leaves with long slender points. On a good day, I can see the hyaline costa and serrate margins with my hand lens. Schofield lists the habitat as epiphytic on maple, yew and cedars as well as on rock.
Hypnum callichroum was retrieved from a few cedars in the stand. Hypnums are so much fun...H. circinale is pretty straight forward to recognize, but some of the others stretch my feeble brain or at least my ability to be certain about an identification in the field.

The following is a synopsis produced in hope of keeping the species of Hypnum straight, no doubt I'll need to adjust this first try:

H. callichroum: leaves circinate, leaf margins entire, long slender tips, irregularly pinnate, hyaloderm, stems yellow or green, capsule not ribbed, arcuate

H. dieckii: leaves circinate, leaves with tiny teeth at the apex, regularly pinnate, hyaloderm, capsule not ribbed, inclined to horizontal or nodding, near streams

H. subimponens: plants large, regularly pinnate, leaves falcate, few distinctive inflated alar cells, hyaloderm, capsules erect to suberect, typically epiphytic on trees or rocks

H. lindbergii: leaves falcate, alar cells inflated, leaves not rounded to insertion, hyaloderm, stems red, capsule ribbed when dry

H. revolutum: leaves without acuminate points, leaf margins rolled under, irregularly pinnate, no hyaloderm, capsule erect

H. circinale: small plants, leaves strongly circinate, tips toothed, alar cells differentiated, often colored, no hyaloderm, small capsule horizontal, epiphytes on trees, logs

Neckera douglasii: found in the same stand. I'm starting to wonder how many times I've ignored this species. (Kind of makes me feel like I should admit that being an idiot is kind of like being high all of the time) Previously I've found it at the Experimental station and at the Baranof cemetary on decdiuous trees. I'll have to pay more attention to this one.

A minor thrill was had in the discovery of fruiting Tetrodontium brownianum on a moist vertical rock surface in a small creeklet or rill. They kind of looked like sparse hairs on the rock. I scraped off a few of the capsules, and happily didn't lose them in transport. Managed to obtain both capsules and the tiny leaves at the base. In the collection was four toothed older capsules and younger ones covered by the calyptra.

Still not satisfied with the identification of a small liverwort from the rill. I'll have to add that one in later.

The last few days have been sunny and warm.
I've managed to get a few more things planted in the garden.

Planted one long row (about 20ft) of snap peas in the middle bed on the lower slope. In front of the peas, put in carrots. This year the varieties included: Red samurai, Purple haze, Mokum hybrid, Nantaise, and Nelson Hybrid. I've grown all but the first and last in the list with good results. Hopefully, the carrots will be good again this year.

Started a bit of lettuce at the end of one bed: couldn't resist the mixture of Merlot, Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed and Buttercrunch. Tossed in a few Easter egg variety of radish seeds for a good salad.

Planted out celery and onions and transplanted the tomatoes. The Brussels are coming along slowly. There are a couple of asparagus shoots growing in the upper bed, maybe if I moved the pine tree they might do a bit better.

The Erythroniums are in full glory, it took several attempts, but perhaps the included photo does them some justice. The newts are hiding under most of the boards around the garden beds. The one in the photo was on its own in the lower garden. Most of the other newts I found were in groups of 3 to 7.

New bloomers include the early columbines, dwarf and one flabellata, Claytonia (both pink and white forms) and the vine maple. A few of the Streptopus roseus are blooming in the garden. The Viola glabella is a bit past its prime.

There is one elderberry with flowers opening near the dock as well as one Ribes bracteosum.

Enjoying the songs of Orange-crowned and Townsends warblers, Hermit and Varied thrushes, Robins and pine siskins in the garden. The hummers are quite busy, I'm fairly certain that there is a nest in the bushes/trees between the wood shed and the burn pile, but I haven't searched for it yet. The winter wrens and chickadees are still around, but seem to have moved back into the forested parts of the lot.

Kayaked around the park Friday evening (5/23). It was a beautiful evening on the water or probably anywhere around Sitka Sound. Drifting past several whimbrels (7-8 ?) and a pretty flashy Caspian Tern near the point of the park was an added treat.

The commute has been relatively quiet lately. A few marbled murrelets, a pigeon guillemot, and mew and glaucous-winged gulls and many sea lions. The sea lion population in the channel increases with the charter fleet activity, lots of fish cleaning going on outside of the harbor.

Sunny with light, but determined northwest winds. In other words inspirational weather after the rain of the previous week.

Decided it was about time to take the skin on frame kayak out for a paddle. It was breezy enough that I decided against going around the airport, and instead headed for the rocks off the north shore of the Twins and Ball Islets (I hadn't previously noticed the name on the chart). I was curious if any of the shorebirds were using the rocks as they had been the last time I kayaked. No luck, so headed toward the park. It was convenient to travel southeast of the anchored cruise ship in order to avoid most of the shore boat traffic. I wasn't interested in negotiating their relatively large wake.

Paddled up the river just to the flats, then back around the battleground beach. I'm not sure I would have seen the 7-9 whimbrels if it wasn't for a couple of people walking down the beach. The birds flew up, around in a small circle then landed again. It was a bit difficult staying still in the wind and looking through the binoculars was problematic, but I was close enough to get a nice look.

Spent the afternoon and part of the evening working in the garden. Cleared out a few beds (didn't cook any of the weeds this time, I was mostly pulling up Mainanthemum). Dug up the bearded iris and divided them in some what more manageable chunks. They were crowded enough that they didn't flower last year. Also started Cauliflower (Panther and Cheddar) and Rubine Brussel Sprouts. The snap peas are soaking overnight, I'll plant them tomorrow.

The Erythroniums and Drumstick Primroses are at peak bloom. The Daffodils are pretty nice as well.

Gardening was much more interesting because of the birds; saw Golden crowned (2), Fox, Song, and Savannah Sparrow, Townsends and Orange-crowned warblers, Robins, Varied Thrush, and Hermit thrushes. The Rufous hummers were chasing each other around the garden, there was an almost constant hummer chatter/noise. One was investigating last year's Fireweed capsules, I couldn't see if the bird collected any of the remaining white fibers.

Also checked 3 of the red Ceratodons in the garden with KOH, on the off chance that I had overlooked a Bryoerythronphylllum. None turned red, so I'm sticking with Ceratodon.

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...

April 24-26

The other unofficial piece of the Bryophyte workshop was birds. In both of bryophyte workshops that I've indulged in, there has been at least one avid birder. In this class, it was Tim Rodenkirk of Coos Bay that was supplying the local expertise.

On the field trip to the West Fir area: White crowned sparrows, Hermit Thrush, dippers, Townsend's Solitaire (first for me), Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed hawk, and a Rufous hummingbird or two.

Friday and Saturday, Tim and I met at 6:20am and drove to Skinner's Butte which is just the other side of downtown Eugene. We parked below the gate and walked up, most of the crowd showed up just after 7:30 when the gate opened.

Friday: 6:30-7:50am
Nashville, Black-throated grey, Orange-crowned, Wilson's, Townsends, Myrtle and Audubon Warblers
Robin, Hermit Thrush, Bushtits, Brown Creeper, Pine Siskins, Spotted Towhee, Nuthatch, Golden crowned, and Song sparrows, Bewick's Wren, Lesser Goldfinch, Downy Woodpecker, Steller's and Scrub Jays and an Osprey

Saturday: many of the same birds with a few additions:
Merlin, Osprey (with nesting material), Acorn Woodpecker, Turkey Vulture
Vaux's swift, Violet green swallow, House finches, and an alleged cross between an Anna's and a Rufous hummingbird.
I couldn't really grasp the nuances of the potential hybrid myself. It sure didn't display or look like any rufous that I had seen around here, but I'll defer to the local experts.


The Black throated grey was another new species for me. It was a very striking bird, Sibley almost does it justice.

Cierra and I stopped by Minto Park before I went down to Eugene. It was nice to spend a little time with her, and hopefully infect her with some enthusiasm for natural history. Fat chance, but might as well try.
Enjoyed listening to the Red-wing blackbirds. We also found Wood ducks and I'm pretty sure observed a very brief mating of two Northern Flickers.

April 23-26
This year for the annual or perhaps semi-annual nerd vacation, I was able to attend Dave Wagner's Bryophyte II workshop at University of Oregon.
The class met at the University, but was not associated with it, except that they supply the space at some unknown cost. There were 10 students attending, most of whom were federal employees, there was also a graduate student from Northern Arizona, a private consultant, a retired lawyer and myself. 4 of the BLM employees had taken the class at least once, but three of the students were taking this class because the level I class had been cancelled.
Dr. Wagner has focused his attention on knowing the flora of Oregon with a lesser emphasis on the surrounding Pacific Northwest. The most helpful shove for me was the emphasis on use of microscopic characters to initially identify the species, then developing a set of field characters from that base. This is definately a goal of mine, not sure how long it will take to be as confident as he is. I might have to focus a bit more to achieve it in the nearer future. The class was also quite useful for checking my interpretation of characterisitcs and getting some species verified.
The first day we focused on hornworts and liverworts which was very helpful. I hadn't looked at hornworts since Dr. Lawton's class and not much then, so it was useful to get a good look at both Anthoceros and Phaeoceros. I'm fairly convinced that I haven't seen either genus here, but now I'll have a better search image to work with. The two genera are pretty easily seperated; Anthoceros has lamellae on the thallus and Phaeoceros does not. The latter genus also has interesting dumbell shaped chloroplasts. We found both genera on our field trip growing on banks of exposed mineral soil (clay texture). I'll have to find the right habitat before I get too worried about finding hornworts around here.
We did a nice survey of the less familiar (to me) genera of thalloid liverworts, Asterella, Sphaerocarpos, Targionia, Riella, etc. Learned that epidermal peels was the best way to see the pore structures and how to easily find the scales & associated appendages on the underside.
Moved on the the leafy liverworts, focused a bit on the importance of oil bodies. Guess I'll have to look at things when fresh to get accurate counts of them in the future. In most liverworts, the oil bodies break down rather fast.
I have some useful drawings of the interpretation of decurrent leaves of Scapania, but no way as yet to transfer those to the computer. The attachment was easier to see by peeling back the leaves on one side of the stem.

We also spent some time on Porella species. P. roelli tastes very peppery (we tried it on the field trip), whereas P. cordeana and navicularis don't. P. navicularis can also be recognized by the wide lobules that diverge from the stem and the revolute margins. P. cordeana has round tips and is somewhat bluish. Bulging trigones is not a good character in this genus.

The second day was spent up Goodman Creek and near West Fir. We parked at the covered bridge picnic area and walked up the trail a ways. What struck me was that the forest floor was dominated by Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, we saw very little Hylocomium splendens, no R. loreus or Mniaceae. We did see Leucolepis along a forested road, and a few Rhizomnium glabrescens on a log. The big thrill for me was finding Buxbaumia piperi. I said something aobut never seeing before and Tim, Kurt and Jennie started searching. In about 5 minutes Jennie found one right beside the trail. It was growing in a small crevice on a rotten stump without any other mosses. I wonder if it grows up here, given how densely most wood is covered with other mosses, it may not have a chance.
Learned a field character to try on H. dieckii and H. subimponens. The latter is yellow green and away from streams and the former is slightly reddish brown and streamside. Not feeling too certain about this working here, but will have to try.
The other field character that I want to try is for Radula bolanderi vs. R. complanata. The former has leaves that are somewhat seperate and with imagination looks like drops of rain. R. complanata has overlapping leaves.
One of the two Frullania species that I learned to field identify, doesn't seem to grow here, alas. F. bolanderi can be recognized by the small branches that arise from the plants. They are easiest to see from the side. This species also prefers hardwoods.

Plagiochila satoi= P. porelloides according to Dave.

We found a large patch of Climacium dendroides growing beside a lake among the grasses. The plants were so closely packed together that the dendroid habit was not apparent. I'm a little worried that I've ignored it or just looked in the wrong places. Sounds like lakes is one place I should be looking around here. It is reported to be rare except in the northern part of the region, one site is in Sitka Sound. Something to look into or search for.

It was nice to see some old friends blooming: Asarum caudatum, Dicentra formosa, Calypso bulbosa, Viola sempervirens, Petatisties frigidus, Ribes sanguineum, Valeriana sitchensis and Trillium ovatum. I don't remember Valerian growing in the forest, I must have replaced that memory with my local map. The Calypso was larger (about 3 inches or so) than I've seen around here. Saw elk along the Willamette river on the drive back.

Spent the next day focusing on the former genus Racomitrium and its segregates. I think I might have a better handle on the genera or at least the species of the genera.
Section in upper part of leaf!
* = locally found

Bucklandiella
*B. heterosticha: 2 rows of cells in costa, some bulging cells, usually without pseudopapilla
S-twist seta, leaves pointing upwards

*B. sudetica: 1 row of bistratose cells on margins, dentate hair point

*B. brevipes: dentate hair point, strong pseudo-papillae (bumps over cross wall not lumen)

B. affine: 3+ stratose costa, hair point flat, not as long decurrent as lawtoniae

B. lawtoniae: z-twist seta, decurrent hair points

Codriophorus leaf sections have cells that look like the bumpy surface of a molar, Ron called them saddle-backed, but I'll stick with molars.

C. ryszardii: boulders, leaves irregularly bluntly erose-dentate at tips. The Indian river valley samples had pointier leaf tips than typical.

Niphotrichum: identified the sample from the beach at Pt. Brown as canescens ssp canescens. The papillose cells and weakly serrate hair points were useful characters

Racomitrium lanuginosum: papillose and branched dentate hair points are diagnostic. Had a sample from the muskeg at Kruzof.

Wagner confirmed my identification of the pesky Pohlia from the rock banks of Indian River. The red stems and metallic luster help identify it as P. cruda.
Managed to work through a variety of Alaska collections, but unfortunately didn't get anywhere with the mosses from the cliff/rocks on Kruzof. Mostly eliminated taxa.

To sum up, the class was excellent. It was very nice to spend time learning from someone who has spent years focusing both on the bryoflora and the natural history of western Oregon.

Although it isn't the usual natural history that I usually record, consider this a special topic in this blog; human grooming behavior.

I met up with two friends that were a significant part of my life from age 11 through 17 (graduation for me) last week in Portland. Maureen and Gail decided that we should do something on the silly side of fun before we went to eat Indian food (my request).

Pedicures seem a little on the bizarre side to me, but sound like they are a relatively regular thing for my friends. The other threesome in the place seemed to agree with my assessment of the practice, but were quite willing to be indulge themselves. Three guys from Kentucky, fortified with alcohol had decided to see what was so good about pedicures that women would pay for the service on a regular basis.
Gail, Maureeen and I were enjoying the incongruity of at the sight of the guys in what is generally thought of as a woman's activity. We were laughing enough that we thought it appropriate to tell the guys that only real men would get pedicures.

This was the second pedicure in my life and they both happened within a month of each other. Not sure what brought about this change in behavior, but I can't imagine that it will become a regular thing. Although I have to admit that soaking my feet in a hot bath, followed by a massage and the most strange of all, dipping my feet in hot wax could be somewhat relaxing. Don't think that I need to have bright red toenails to feel well groomed. I don't think it made me feel particularly girly either, just a bit silly. The sandals Gail provided were some how quite appropriate.