Clear skies meant colder temperatures this morning. It appears the official low was down around 28F. I saw frost on the windows when I looked outside, but it was up near it’s high of 40F by the time I got out much this afternoon.
By this afternoon the breeze had picked up a bit, blowing out of the northwest. I noticed it most strongly at Totem Park and out Halibut Point Road.
I had considered stopping at Sandy Beach for a bit leading up to the 4:30pm low tide. It was predicted to be a -0.1ft, but actual levels were about a foot lower, and it ended up being -1.1ft. The wind blowing on to the beach did not inspire me to stop when I was there, however. I opted for Totem Park instead, and once I was out on the beach, found the wind blowing even harder there.
As I’ve noticed in the past with west or northwest winds, once I got around the battle site bench, things were much calmer. At least this was the case at the upper part of the beach which was protected by the trees. I spent some time relaxing there in the sun, watching the beach and the sun on the snow covered mountains.
My rest ended when a large bank of clouds blocked the sun. It had been slowly moving in from the northwest in the latter part of the afternoon.
On my way to the foot bridge to check for dippers, I noticed a licorice-like smell as I approached the large tree that broke (due to significant rot) within the past few months. It’s a smell I have come to associate with rotten trees that have broken. I am assuming it is a fungus that is producing the chemical that I smell, but I don’t know for sure.
I happened to cross paths with Rowan as got to the foot bridge. We visited for a bit, and she told me she hadn’t seen any dippers this morning when she was there. We did not see any this afternoon either.
It appeared there might be a break between the cloud bank and the horizon where the sun might shine through as it set. I spent some time watching from Sea Mart leading up to the 5:50pm sunset just in case. There was a bit of color, nothing too dramatic in the end.
The air between me and the mountains was relatively distortion free today, but there was some distortion over the water.
I spent a little bit of time at Lazaria Drive this afternoon. There was the normal sparrow activity (of the species that stick close to the brush pile), but none of the more widely wandering birds (juncos, Brambling, tree sparrow, chickadees) happened by while I was there. I was interested that the White-throated Sparrow hopped from the brush pile right out towards me. It got within a few feet, and after standing there for a few moments, flew past me to the berm. I would not have been able to focus on it even if I had tried to take pictures as it approached, but I did take a couple of it on the berm (which was nicely lit by the sun).
Forecast is for snow in the latter half of the week, so it will be interesting to see if we get any significant accumulation.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
