Despite the fact that our weather is back to what would be considered normal temperatures for mid January…
with frost in the morning and fresh snow at least half way down all the surrounding mountains…
and mist or fog in the morning – note that all that remains of that dead swan are a few scattered feathers….
today was note worthy for the incredible amount of birds and bird activity all along the trail…
Red-wing Blackbirds were everywhere, calling out the whole time…and were joined by a number of Starlings…that actually have some very interesting and musical calls…
there were a number of Varied Thrush in the area by the viewing stand. The alder trees all along the trail were full of Chestnut backed Chickadees, while Golden Crowned Kinglets filled the evergreens neither of which held still long enough for a decent picture! Towhee, Song Sparrow, both Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers as well as a couple of Northern Flicker and Steller’s Jay rounded out the species.
There was a good number of Bald Eagles, probably 70 or so, scattered about…over half of them juveniles like this guy – look closely at his talons…he had no doubt been feeding off of that swan, along with every other scavenger in the area, including the Raven. Nothing goes to waste in the natural world!
On the water, there had actually been 5 Bufflehead in the morning, but none during our mid-day walk. There was a big raft of Mallard, a pair of Gadwall, a few Green Wing Teal and only 2 Swans…one of which flew over our heads as we were walking back towards home.
No comments:
Post a Comment