29, 31 January, 1 February

29 January

 eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S101666053

Weather:  9 am 1C wind SSE 4,  12:30 pm 4C wind SSW 2, cloudy, then rain

tide:  11 am 4m, rising

31 January

eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S101802114

Weather:  9 am 1C wind WNW 4,  1pm 6C wind NNW 13  SUNNY!!!

Tide:  11 am 3.7m, rising

1 February

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S101859114

weather:  9 am 4C wind W 35,  1 pm 5C wind W 33, partly cloudy, clearing

tide:  11 am 3.6m falling

31 January

FINALLY! A sunny day.  A bit frosty first thing, but glorious nevertheless.  

So nice to be able to see mountains.



The foliage along the path to the trailhead is starting to show signs of spring--despite the frost lining the path.


It seemed relatively quiet, birdwise, although I see from my count that there were quite a few species present.  

Two species were unusually bold and sat nicely for photos:


As seems often the case, this little fox sparrow looks quite pensive.  I really like the elegant chevron pattern on their breast.  

And then, an amazingly obliging juvenile Cooper's hawk.  First he showed up in a stand of alders near the end of the path in.


I spent quite a long time taking photos of him. (Note also that the alder is budding!)  When I moved on, he seemed to follow me and perch even closer.  Again, it almost looks as though he's studying the leaf buds.  


I'm sure this was coincidence, but I don't usually get as close a view of Cooper's hawks. 

1 February

Another dry and only partly cloudy day.  I note that the weather office reported warmer temperatures, although with the wind, it felt pretty nippy, and the ground was frozen hard.

The merganser pond was starting to ice over.


The field was open to a fine view of the Coast Range.  Haven't seen that in some time.


(The goose kind of photobombed this picture.  I wasn't expecting him.)

The Salish Sea looked a bit wild--again, it was quite windy.


...Although I recorded a good number of bird sightings, none of them cooperated with photos today.  Curious.

Snow is forecast for tomorrow.  There is, to my knowledge, no West Coast groundhog to forecast the weather.  I guess we can hope that an inclement February 2nd bodes an early spring. 




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