Juneau Independent

It’s the time when juvenile songbirds appear, fully fledged and flying well: crows, robins, hermit thrushes, juncos, etc. It’s also mosquito season — they found me as soon as I stepped out of the car to walk on the dike trail.

As I started on the dike trail, I noticed a few photographers all focused in one direction. Just then, I met some old friends who asked "Have you seen that flycatcher?" My response was "Flycatcher? What flycatcher?"

The first little mallard ducklings have been appearing on ponds around town.

On a recent semi-sunny day, I ventured down the badly pot-holed access road to the trailhead for the wetlands at the end of Industrial Boulevard. Elderberry shrubs bore a few inflorescences with open flowers and more to come soon.

On a recent chilly, drizzly day, I ventured up Basin Road with a friend. The flume trail was not available, due to some work project. Our time was limited, so we stuck to the road, up and back.

On a day in mid-May with alternating sun and showers, a friend and I took a stroll on the Outer Point Trail. Our original intent was a walk on the Rainforest Trail, but that idea was jettisoned vigorously and immediately upon seeing a horde of tourists beginning a guided tour there. The Outer Point Trail was ours for a time, and a few others came later.

Here in Southeast, two species of swift reach the northern extent of their breeding range, although they are not common here.

The snow is still thick on the ground in some places and my pond still has a lot of ice. The small alders that grow at the pond edge were bent double by those heavy snows and still have their tops locked in the pond ice. Pairs of mallard visit the pond every day, foraging around the edges and on the fallen seeds on the ice. Other spring things are happening too!

Ice-out at Twin Lakes! Some swans soon discovered the open water and quickly took advantage of the access to submerged vegetation. Skunk cabbage inflorescences grew larger, bringing their cheerful yellows to the dark grounds. Mountain bluebirds continued to show up in the wetland, delighting many of us as they head north; they are gone before the end of April.

In mid-April I went out on the Airport Dike Trail, hoping to find some fat buds that were loosening up and showing a little green leafiness. Alas, no, too soon for that. My best observation for that walk happened out by the bench.

All that snow — over 16 feet of it! We shoveled. We dealt carefully with the blind junctions, where huge snow berms meant you couldn’t see the cross traffic until you pulled your car well out into their lane. We shoveled again and we dreamed of spring.

These strange little critters are in their own phylum, distantly related to arthropods and round worms. There are over a thousand species of them, distributed in various habitats around the world; over 80 species are known from Alaska. So small that they are almost invisible to our unaided eyes, most of them are less than a millimeter long.