I had been hoping to get out on the boat today, but the person I was going to go with had too much to do, so I ended up working on things around school and going for a walk to Totem Park.
Weather: Contrary to the forecast (which called for fog in the morning and a decent breeze) the day dawned clear and calm. It remained that way until the evening when a thin layer of clouds started to move over. It was pretty warm in the sun during the day, though things stayed pretty frosty in the shade.
Birds: There was the usual assortment of birds at the park, including Mallards, Common Mergansers, Scaups, some Surf Scoters out off-shore, Barrow’s Goldeneyes, and gulls.
Other Notes: A lone mink was making its way along the rocks below the trail at the edge of Indian River Estuary.
At least a couple places along the trail at the park there were lots of pieces of spruce branches. The appeared to be the 6 inches or so at the end, and it was not clear how they were detached from the tree. I almost have to assume that it was an animal of some sort, but it wasn’t obvious what kind or why. It’s hard to imagine wind just breaking off the tips so much. These seemed to be most abundant going through the alders/second growth spruce headed toward the battle site sign.