Clear skies this morning, with clouds moving over this afternoon and becoming overcast by this evening. Temperatures in the 20s to near freezing during the day. Breezy out of the north.
Indian River ibuttons were in need of servicing. I wasn’t excited about going, but the forecast for snow in the coming days made it seem like this was probably likely to be the best conditions for the next several days, at least.
A couple of bird species I have not yet seen this year were reported this morning, so I put off my hike for a little while at least.
My first stop was the upper end of Swan Lake, where a Downy Woodpecker had been in the alders. I didn’t see any woodpeckers while I was there, but did consider it might be a place worth visiting more often. Lately I’ve been thinking about carrying a hand pruner with me to do some minor clearing in places I visit. This is one of those places. There are at least a couple of spots it could be nice to sit and watch, especially on a sunny day, but they would benefit from trimming back some of the salmonberries and other branches.
Next stop was the estuary at Totem Park. I didn’t find the Gadwalls reported this morning. The Eurasian Wigeons were not there either.
Mercifully, Indian River trail was mostly ice free. When Connor went up a couple of weeks ago, he said there was quite a bit of ice on the trail. I wasn’t sure if it would have been warm enough in the meantime to melt, but apparently it was, at least to the second bridge.
Downed trees from the wind storm late last month was apparent. Most of the trees that fell across the trail had been cut, but there was one set that I had to step under/over. Other trees were downed near the trail. In a couple of cases, they came up by the roots and took part of the trail with them. I didn’t make a count, but my impression was most of the trees tipped over from the roots, but there were a few snapped ones.
The forest ibutton wasn’t functioning, so I replaced it. Sometimes malfunctions still allow data to be read, but that wasn’t the case for this one. I’ll give it another try at home, but don’t have high hopes.
Round trip was right about 2 hours to go just over 4 miles.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
