16 February

 eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S81766682

Weather:  8:30 am 3C wind W 8; 2pm 8C, wind WNW 5

Tide:  10:30 AM 4.1m, falling


A relatively quiet morning, birdwise.  Much warmer than it's been lately, and sunny, with stratus clouds.

At the beginning of the walk, the snow was crunchy and crusty and rather difficult underfoot, but beautiful. 




 By the end of the walk the snow had almost all converted to slush and mud.

The path leading to the trailhead was, as usual, rich in LBBs.   The snow showed tracks from various creatures--deer, raccoon, and quail.



I hadn't realised that quail were so abundant on Vancouver Island.  They're scarce on the Lower Mainland, but there are lots of them here and to the south as well.


The merganser pond was still frozen over.  The morning light in the alders was lovely.



The tide was falling, and the duck population must have been elsewhere.  There were a few Canada geese, and a flock of dunlin.

The arbutus along the river took the morning light 


The path became boggy once again.  The river was low, and the eagles weren't in evidence.  I realised that I'm beginning to think of 7C (44F) as warm.  

I'm writing this on Wednesday, and didn't go out today.  Somehow I've done something to my knee and think it needs to rest a bit.  Darn.  This is unfortunate because it's a gloriously sunny day and the rest of the week looks like mixed rain and snow.

Ah well.  As my mother was fond of saying, "When winter comes, can spring be far behind?"  


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