Sitka Nature

Short Walk along Mosquito Cove Trail


Listen Later

Overcast with periods of rain through much of the day. Becoming mostly cloudy with showers and minor sun breaks later in the day. Temperatures in the 50s.

Though we had rain here, it was nothing like elsewhere in the region. I think Ketchikan had over 4 inches. The National Weather Service said it was a moderate atmospheric river, but I think we were at the edge of it.

Starrigvan Bay in Sitka, Alaska

I made it out this afternoon for a short trip. I walked the flat portion of Mosquito Cove trail to the point. They’ve been doing some trailwork on it, there was new gravel along serveral stretches.

Western Buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis) along the shoreline at Starrigavan Bay in Sitka, Alaska

I got pictures of plants for my daily observations, but didn’t spend too long at it, as a shower was on its way.

Spectrogram of the recording below. The song that sounded more typical of what I’ve been used to hearing around Sitka has been highlighted. Others vary, with the first couple being especially different sounding. The steady line of higher frequency calls are Golden-crowned Kinglets.

Walking back to the care I stopped to listen to a Townsend’s Warbler whose song was more buzzy than most I hear around here. I’ve noticed at least two or maybe three like that this year, so it makes me wonder if there’s a change happening. I tried recording (but haven’t listened, so am not sure how it turned out yet). One time it sang a more typical sounding (to me) song.

Some of the beach vegetation looked disturbed, I guessed from a high tide. We’re in the big tides for this moon cycle. Yesterday and this morning were both predicted to be -3.1 foot tides, some of the lowest of the year. I was more tired than motivated, and didn’t even try to get out for them. As it turned out, the tide was nearly a foot above predicted, so not so low this morning. During last night’s high, it was only about 6 inches above predicted, but that would have been high enough to wash over the plants I noticed.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

Ranunculus occidentalis<\/em>) along the shoreline at Starrigavan Bay in Sitka, Alaska","meta":{"width":1125,"height":1500,"file":"2025\/05\/20250528-1748482025058.jpg","filesize":369672,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"20250528-1748482025058-225x300.jpg","width":225,"height":300,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":54612},"large":{"file":"20250528-1748482025058-768x1024.jpg","width":768,"height":1024,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":155114},"thumbnail":{"file":"20250528-1748482025058-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":42017},"medium_large":{"file":"20250528-1748482025058-768x1024.jpg","width":768,"height":1024,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":155114}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"1.7","credit":"","camera":"Galaxy S23 Ultra","caption":"Western Buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis<\/em>) along the shoreline at Starrigavan Bay in Sitka, Alaska","created_timestamp":"1748482023","copyright":"Matt Goff","focal_length":"6.3","iso":"160","shutter_speed":"0.0055555555555556","title":"Western Buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis<\/em>)","orientation":"0","keywords":["Buttercup Family","Dicotyledons","Mosquito Cove Trail","Ranunculaceae","Ranunculus","Ranunculus occidentalis","Starrigavan Trails","Trails","Vascular Plants"],"lens":"Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Rear Wide Camera"},"mime_type":""},"id":"72953","img_html":"","link_href":null,"link_target":"_self","link_rel":null,"attributes":{"data-mgl-id":"72953","data-mgl-width":"1125","data-mgl-height":"1500"},"orientation":"i"},{"caption":"Starrigvan Bay in Sitka, Alaska","meta":{"width":1500,"height":537,"file":"2025\/05\/20250528-20250528_172804-pano.jpg","filesize":326314,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"20250528-20250528_172804-pano-300x107.jpg","width":300,"height":107,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":34345},"large":{"file":"20250528-20250528_172804-pano-1024x367.jpg","width":1024,"height":367,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":117587},"thumbnail":{"file":"20250528-20250528_172804-pano-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":31181},"medium_large":{"file":"20250528-20250528_172804-pano-768x275.jpg","width":768,"height":275,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":78587}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"1.7","credit":"","camera":"Galaxy S23 Ultra","caption":"Starrigvan Bay in Sitka, Alaska","created_timestamp":"1748482084","copyright":"Matt Goff","focal_length":"6.3","iso":"10","shutter_speed":"0.0052631578947368","title":"Starrigavan Bay","orientation":"0","keywords":["Composite Image","Mosquito Cove Trail","Multi-image Stitch","Starrigavan Trails","Trails"],"lens":"Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Rear Wide Camera"},"mime_type":""},"id":"72954","img_html":"","link_href":null,"link_target":"_self","link_rel":null,"attributes":{"data-mgl-id":"72954","data-mgl-width":"1500","data-mgl-height":"537"},"orientation":"o"},{"caption":"Northern Geranium (Geranium erianthum<\/em>) along the shore of Starrigavan Bay in Sitka, Alaska","meta":{"width":1125,"height":1500,"file":"2025\/05\/20250528-1748482146582.jpg","filesize":605359,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"20250528-1748482146582-225x300.jpg","width":225,"height":300,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":69571},"large":{"file":"20250528-1748482146582-768x1024.jpg","width":768,"height":1024,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":254123},"thumbnail":{"file":"20250528-1748482146582-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":51278},"medium_large":{"file":"20250528-1748482146582-768x1024.jpg","width":768,"height":1024,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":254123}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"1.7","credit":"","camera":"Galaxy S23 Ultra","caption":"Northern Geranium (Geranium erianthum<\/em>) along the shore of Starrigavan Bay in Sitka, Alaska","created_timestamp":"1748482145","copyright":"Matt Goff","focal_length":"6.3","iso":"160","shutter_speed":"0.0055555555555556","title":"Northern Geranium (Geranium erianthum<\/em>)","orientation":"0","keywords":["Dicotyledons","Geraniaceae","Geranium Family","Geranium erianthum","Mosquito Cove Trail","Northern Geranium","Starrigavan Trails","Trails","Vascular Plants"],"lens":"Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Rear Wide Camera"},"mime_type":""},"id":"72955","img_html":"","link_href":null,"link_target":"_self","link_rel":null,"attributes":{"data-mgl-id":"72955","data-mgl-width":"1125","data-mgl-height":"1500"},"orientation":"i"},{"caption":"Starrigvan Bay Shoreline in Sitka, Alaska","meta":{"width":1500,"height":799,"file":"2025\/05\/20250528-20250528_173141-pano.jpg","filesize":604050,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"20250528-20250528_173141-pano-300x160.jpg","width":300,"height":160,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":45102},"large":{"file":"20250528-20250528_173141-pano-1024x545.jpg","width":1024,"height":545,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":206574},"thumbnail":{"file":"20250528-20250528_173141-pano-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":36822},"medium_large":{"file":"20250528-20250528_173141-pano-768x409.jpg","width":768,"height":409,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":129051}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"1.7","credit":"","camera":"Galaxy S23 Ultra","caption":"Starrigvan Bay Shoreline in Sitka, Alaska","created_timestamp":"1748482301","copyright":"Matt Goff","focal_length":"6.3","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.0055555555555556","title":"Starrigavan Bay Shoreline","orientation":"0","keywords":["Composite Image","Mosquito Cove Trail","Multi-image Stitch","Starrigavan Trails","Trails"],"lens":"Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Rear Wide Camera"},"mime_type":""},"id":"72956","img_html":"","link_href":null,"link_target":"_self","link_rel":null,"attributes":{"data-mgl-id":"72956","data-mgl-width":"1500","data-mgl-height":"799"},"orientation":"o"}]" data-atts="{"wplr-collection":"2566","include":"72953,72954,72955,72956,72957","id":null,"order":"","orderby":"post__in","is_truncated":true,"layout":"tiles"}">
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Sitka NatureBy