Before the rain arrives

One of the things I find fascinating about the Chehalis Estuary is how rapidly it can change, so with a weather forecast predicting the first warmish temperatures in days and lots of rain, took the opportunity to take a walk over to the park today to sort of 'set the scene' so we can all watch with interest to see what happens over the next few days, since with higher temperatures it won't just be raining and melting the snow down here, it will be doing it up in the mountains as well.

So let's set out....

here we are at the beginning....compact snow all the way to the water's edge, or rather ice's edge as it is pretty much still all frozen.

across the 'grasslands' and what is surprising here is we are walking on top of some very deep drifted snow, has to be 3 or 4 feet deep in places.

the 'high and dry' first bay...

and adult Bald Eagle over seeing the area.

and now the 'high and dry' log bay where there was actually a fair amount of activity...

including Dark eyed Junco like this guy, Fox and Song Sparrows....

a pretty little Mew Gull.....

there was a flock of European Starling, and also some Red-wing Blackbirds (none in this photo) that kept going down to the bay for a bath.  A northern flicker was also in the same tree.

looking that way it appears very dry and barren....

but looking closer, there are are a couple of juvenile Bald Eagles out there...

and I'll close with one more eagle photo...

this guy landed right in front of me while I was wrestling my dog away from yet another stinky 'fish bit'.

I don't expect I'll get over here for a few days now so we shall all watch with interest to see how, or if, the scene changes.