Westside Sunsets

When I used to visit the island for a week or two every summer, the hour before and after sunset were my favorite hours of the day. Once I moved here full time, got a job, etc. it became easier to just stay in at night, but I've been reminding myself just how great it is to be out and about around 9 PM on these late summer days. This past week in particular I've made it out to take in more than one west side sunset.

On Thursdays and Saturdays at Lime Kiln, you can take a free guided tour to the top of the lighthouse. Years ago, I used to volunteer and help give these tours, but it had been several years since I'd been up in the lighthouse. It's a spectacular view, even more so in the golden hours of the evening.

The light inside the Lime Kiln Lighthouse, looking south

Sunset as seen through one of the windows in the lighthouse stairwell

It also allowed me an aerial view of my favorite rock to watch whales from. Many of the photos on this blog were taken while sitting on this rock!

The whales have been around a lot at sunset, and after striking out on the 10th, I went back on the 11th to try my luck. Success! I got to Land Bank in time to see the second half of J- and K-Pods head south. Actually, it's easy to say "Js and Ks were there", but in actuality, it was only part of each pod. Since the whales dipped out west on the 8th, present in inland waters have been J2, the J14s, the J16s, and L87 (J-Pod "Group A" without J19 and J41), and K-Pod (minus K21, K16, and K35 - the roamers).

 

I just love seeing the blows illuminated in the evening light. There's just nothing like seeing whales at sunset....

After the whales passed by, I just sat for a while, taking in the beautiful scenery.

As the sun was going down, the "Super Moon" was rising:

It was hard to know which way to look - watch the moon come up, or the increasingly orange sun go down? Ah, the difficult decisions we face.... :)

As amazing as this sunset was, the one to follow a couple days later would blow this one out of the water. I've seen a lot of sunsets in my day, and the evening of July 13th was one of the best I've ever seen. So good, it deserves its own blog post.

Heading Back North

On our last day in Baja - already two weeks ago today! - I got up extra early. People had been giving reports of a beautiful moonset on previous mornings and I decided to fully take in our last hours there. It was a bit cloudy, but still impressive as the moon disappeared into the lagoon:

Almost simultaneously, the sun was rising in the opposite direction:

After another delicious breakfast, we had a few more minutes to take in the whales off the point before the panga ride back to Kuyima. As an added bonus, a big mixed flock of shorebirds flew up, too!

Marbled godwits

Willets

 Included in the group was my last year bird for Mexico - a few short-billed dowitchers (130):

Marbled godwit, willet, and short-billed dowitcher

All too soon it was time to go. The planes were waiting for us at Kuyima:

Luckily the weather cooperated for another smooth flight back north, and the scenery was stunning for the whole flight. Here was our last look at Laguna San Ignacio:

A few more scenic shots, looking east towards the Sea of Cortez:

As we began our descent, it was back into civilization at Tijuana. A bit of a culture shock, even after just four days away!

Luckily our trip wasn't completely over quite yet. We had some more friends to visit in San Diego and some more birds to see first!

A Week Without Whales (But With Moths, Birds, Flowers....)

The Resident orcas headed back out to the open ocean last Sunday night, and there haven't been reports of them since then. While the boats in the area have had chances to see transient orcas (there were Ts right off Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver yesterday!), humpback whales, and minke whales, those of us on shore have turned our sights to other creatures. It's been another beautiful late spring week and there's been a lot to see!

Monday while picking up my lunch near the Friday Harbor Airport I was thrilled to see my first chipping sparrow (162) of the year. I had gone out to several places I've seen them in years past looking for this species, but without luck. Then, later the same afternoon, I saw one from the office at work. Amazingly, I think, my bird list for species seen at work in 2013 is approaching 40 species.

Also at work that day I found another cool moth. We had the ceanothus silk moth a few weeks ago, but this time it was an eyed sphinx moth (Smerinthus cerisyi). It took me a while to ID it because in most of the field guide images it has its hind wings extended showing the "eyes" it flashes to scare predators. I guess I wasn't scary enough.

Wednesday I went down to Fourth of July Beach and did a COASST survey. As per usual, no stranded sea birds, but I did turn up a respectable 28 living species in the hour I was there. Northern rough-winged swallows, cedar waxwings, a gadwall, American goldfinches, and a few surf scoters were on the list, but the most cooperative when it came to taking pictures was a pair of killdeer. I've never seen a killdeer jump before, but that's just what this one was doing as it went from log to log:

Thursday night after work we headed out to Lime Kiln for another sunset. The colors were a bit more subdued than some other recent ones but it was still a beauty:

For some reason we've gotten in the habit of seeing how many of these four species we can find on every trip to the west side: killer whale, harbor seal, bald eagle, black oystercatcher. Only once this year have we gotten all four! On Thursday evening we only got one - bald eagle - but that was okay because it flew right past the crescent moon, giving it bonus points:

On Friday afternoon we went for a walk at Third Lagoon at the south end of the island and saw and heard another 23 bird species. Some highlights for me were a pair of hairy woodpeckers that looked like recent fledgling and also a pair of band-tailed pigeons, not a species I see too often here on the island. At the edge of the lagoon a line of colorful kayaks were laid out on the gravel:

On the drive back to town I had to stop at the pull out above South Beach to take some photos of the California poppies that have just exploded into bloom all over the hillside there:

I wonder what sights this weekend will bring?

April San Juan Sightings

It's been a busy month at work, but on weekends and on nice springtime afternoons I've still made sure to get out and enjoy spring here on San Juan Island. Here are a few photos and sightings from the last two weeks.....

Last spring my friend Katie and I found a barred owl roosting in a tree near her house. We thought it might be a nesting site and checked it out earlier in the year this year. No luck, but by early April an owl was again spending its days in the same tree hole. Like last year, only part of its face was visible, but it was still cool to see:

Spring migrants have seemingly been slower to arrive here in the rest of the state, but one afternoon out turned up both my first savannah sparrow (161) of the year, and my first sighting of western bluebirds (162). The western bluebird reintroduction project has completed its five years of relocations, but they are still monitoring the local bluebird population. When I saw this male and female, 8 pairs had been known to have returned to the island.

There have been some clear nights with impressive stars this month, and one evening I got home just in time to see this impressive moonrise across the bay.

The local farmer's market has started up for the summer again, and on the first Saturday it was open I came home with a fresh baked chocolate croissant which I enjoyed while sitting on the front porch in the sun. While I was eating it, I heard a noise nearby, and saw I wasn't the only one eating a late morning snack. This mink was busily foraging, and came up with an eel-like fish. It dropped it, and was here scoping me out before going to retrieve it:

Sevearl birding excursions around the island have turned up first-of-the-year sightings for me in San Juan County, though they're birds I added to the year list early with the trip to California. Orange-crowned warblers, osprey, turkey vultures, wood ducks, and common yellowthroat are some of the species that have arrived. As a result, my county year list has surpassed 100 species this month.

With my parents up visiting this weekend, I did lots of birding with my dad, and added a few outright year birds as well. The brown-headed cowbirds (163) have arrived, which is not an exciting sighting since they negatively impact so many other bird species. While doing a COASST survey at Fourth of July Beach, I saw my first three northern rough-winged swallows (164) of the season. Then, while stopping to see the alpacas at the alpaca farm, I was surprised to see a chipping sparrow (165) sitting on a fence wire.

Also at Fourth of July Beach there was a small flock of shorebirds made up of about 10 black-bellied plovers and 20 dunlin, both of which are always a pleasure to see. Both of them are also starting the transition to summer breeding plumage, and probably won't be around much longer. Here's part of the flock:

Across the way looking over the Strait of Juan de Fuca were some impressive clouds, which as I know from my black and white landscape photography week (see last post) can make for some impressive shots. Here's one:

Finally, a hike at British Camp turned up lots of singing orange-crowned warblers, a few remaining surf scoters, and this very wet dark-eyed junco that had seemingly just taken a bath:

Next up, hopefully some more time outside, and some more regular blog posts again!

Mitchell Hill Butterflies

I went up to explore the maze of trails on Mitchell Hill thinking I would be looking for birds, but I got more distracted by the butterflies. There was an abundant small white species flitting all over the place but no amount of effort was going to turn up a decent photo of those as they never seemed to settle down anywhere. I did, however, meet two new (to me) species. This time patience did prevail and I was able to get some photos....photographing butterflies takes a new kind of waiting that is very different from photographing birds!

Mourning cloak, Nymphalis antiopa

Satyr anglewing, also known as as the satyr comma, Polygonia satyrus

The moon has also been stunning the last couple of nights, and I've been able to watch it rising over Pear Point from our front porch. This is probably the best moon shot I've ever taken:

Last Night's Full Moon

Oregon Wine Country

We finally got some nice weather over the end of the holiday weekend, so last Sunday was a beautiful day to drive out to parts of rural Oregon and visit several of the small, local wineries that were open for the weekend. It was sunny, calm, and not even very chilly, so it was perfect for pulling out the camera and capturing some scenic shots of Oregon wine country.

A gravel road through one of the vineyards

A few oak trees (I think?) punctuated the otherwise flat landscape, standing out among the rolling hills. Here a couple of trees frame one of the barns at a winery.

One of my new lenses starts at 18mm, giving me a chance to frame some wider landscape shots like this one

By the time we drove home, the sun was setting and the moon was rising

We had to stop the car so I could try and capture this view of Mt. Hood beyond the road leading down from Bald Peak into the rural valley. Click on the picture to see a larger view showing the mountain more clearly.

I've never really figured out the tricks of photographing mountains in the distance....they often appear very washed out. Anyone have any tips?

The Ecological Calendar and Solar Events

Every year, I love to follow along the Ecological Calendar. It's a calendar based on the natural structure of the year, focusing on the four seasons as separated by the solstices and equinoxes, and daily following along the phases of the moon, the movements of the stars, the tidal fluctuations, our rotation around the sun and its effect on daylight and climate, and many natural phenomena. It's a nice alternative to the traditoinal Gregorian calendar. Interestingly enough, the Gregorian calendar is actually based on the ancient Egyptian calendar, which was based on solar movements and mathematically calculated to have 365 1/4 days per year.

When just living by the traditional calendar, its easy to get lost in the year as the days of the week and repeat and numerical dates of the months tick by. I have both a "regular" calendar and the Ecological Calendar posted side-by-side on my wall, and the Ecological Calendar provides a nice contrast by giving each day a unique name based on its place in the year. This week, for instance, consists of the days Orion, FrostHoar, Procyon, RazorbackBoar, MackerelSky, ScrubJay, and Gemini.

There are a couple interesting solar events that fall around this week. January 4th was the perihelion - the place in Earth's orbital cycle where we are closest to the sun. The Earth is 3.1 million miles closer to the sun on the perihelion than during the aphelion (the farthest point) which this year falls in July.

On January 10th, the full moon will be the brightest one of the year, because on this cycle it coincides with when the moon is closest to the Earth on its orbital cycle. Unfortunately, I may miss the bright full moon, unless some of these persistent rain clouds move on by then.

Also, January 11th will be the last day when you can see Jupiter in the evening sky. Right around the winter solstice, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury could all be seen together in the night sky. Here's a photo my dad took in Arizona on December 1st, showing Venus, Jupiter, and the moon together in the night sky: