Low clouds with rain becoming snow during the day. Fog at times (in Silver Bay) with calm winds.
I wasn’t due out to Sawmill Cove until noon, so opted to have a leisurely morning.
On the drive out, snow was mixing in with the rain.
Upon arrival, visibility was pretty good, but that didn’t last long. By the time they were ready to start driving the piling, snow was falling and fog had developed along with it.
We all waited for over two hours as the snow fell and visibility varied from poor to even worse.
Finally, the clouds seemed to be lifting from the mouth of the bay. It carried on and we could see the 2 km shutdown zone. They had just enough time to drive the piling, though it pushed our post-watch time into darkness.
With snow falling, I didn’t take my camera out for pictures of birds. Pacific Loons were around again today, but not so many.
A Marbled Murrelet was mostly not around the dock, but it came in close as it was getting dark. It continued to dive near the dock while I was there. I am guessing it was taking advantage of the bright lights on the dock, but I’m not sure.
I found the patterns of snow accumulation on the water interesting. At first they were small snowbergs, but later they had grown larger. I’m curious what drives the size of the snow patches.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
