Showing posts with label Dirtberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dirtberg. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Dear Mr Science Whats a Dirtberg
After a few days of rain and wind, the day started in the upper 20's, calm and foggy. The fog cleared before I got into the canoe. I'm making a compass transit map today. So, from key spots around the bay, I stop and take compass bearings of other key spots (tips of islands, points, directions of shorelines, etc.) If possible, I get out and pace off distances between points. Then, if I have connected all of the dots, I can sit down and make a reasonably accurate map. This is exactly what the earlier explorers did - although, they were faster and more practiced than I. The birds are calm today. The wintering contingent is still here although there are more mergansers in the bay, which I think is a result of stormy weather. One eagle was back near its nest in the NE corner. There were a lot of people out today enjoying the weather, which is always good to see. The lake is full up or nearly so. Today's photo is taken from the center of one of the boggy west islands that I often refer to. In mid winter this is above water. And, there is one of the mysterious dirtbergs out in the bay today. Every once in a while, a big piece of bogstuff breaks off (from the bottom of the lake - not the edge) and drifts around in the lake. It's marked with a bright buoy, which is a good idea because the above water area is about 20 x 15 feet and just like an iceberg, most of the dirtberg is below water. Maybe I'll measure it later. Maybe no one has ever studied the physics of the dirtberg. Maybe I could get a PhD in messing about in canoes by writing a thesis on dirtbergs. Forunately, my canoe is unsinkable. I paddled south down Lake Washington to take-out. It was over 50F by that time. Several people stopped me to ask about my canoe-cart.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Dirtberg Movements
In the photo is the right half of the dirtberg in Union Bay. It has moved a hundred yards or so in the last 2 days. The above water portion is about 3 canoe lengths in diameter (40-45 feet). Most of the berg is below water and I can touch it 10 or 15 feet from the visible edge. Having risen from the lake bed, there is no vegetation on the berg. I did spot a large cobble and, of course, several litter items. For those in need of more info, from the dirtberg, the N. point (where the beaver is slowly cutting down a tree) is 042 deg true and the NE edge of the shell house is 303 deg true. The plan today was to paddle the bay quickly and jot down all of the birds that I saw. It was about 40F, but the wind came up soon after I started, so I noted birds for only about half of the paddle. Here they are, in order...
Mallards, Teal and Pied Billed Grebes,
Buffleheads and Canada Geese,
Crow, Widgeons and Hooded Merganser,
Gadwalls, Wood Duck, Violet Green Swallows,
Coots and Pidgeons and Cormorants,
Common Merganser and a Great Blue Heron,
Red Wing Blackbird and a bunch of Robins,
An unkown Sparrow and a Northern Flicker.
Of note, the Violet Green Swallows are here in force and have just migrated in from points south.
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