Carkeek has sprung

About 8 weeks has elapsed since I last walked in Carkeek, and so many of the plants that were barely out in April have now already surpassed their bloom time, although there was enough around to see what had been, if not in full flower. Got one nice shot of the lovely Youth-on-Age bloom.

We entered at Norcross and immediately heard a bunch of birds, most of which we couldn't see but which Merlin helped ID. Along with the usual robins, song sparrows, towhees and crows, we heard Swainson's thrush, Pacific-slope flycatcher, nuthatch, creeper, chestnut-backed chickadees and Wilson's warblers. We also heard and saw ravens almost certainly protecting a nest/encouraging fledgelings. Merlin believes ravens are uncommon here, but really they aren't - occasionally they even fly over our house in Ballard. Most of these birds didn't show themselves, and even the robins and sparrows aren't interested in our crummy iPhone photography, so all of these are instead uploaded to Merlin.

I had a wish to find some liverwort and I saw some crescent-cup immediately on the wet side of the park on some mossy stairs. On the drier north-side trails, we came across a deer - she wasn't especially concerned though she kept well ahead of us and headed off on a deer path as we continued on ours.

Also on the dry side I found what I believe to be red root rot (porodaedalea) on a Douglas fir. A light scratch on the underside did not show a persistent dark mark. Contrast this with one of the many artist's conks I saw on the wet site (downed leaf maple) which did easily mark.

Posted on June 14, 2023 10:02 PM by jenstr