Well that was definitely a snow storm! We had heavy snow and wind throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, and then when it was all over, Thursday morning was clear, bright, beautiful, and very snowy:
The reported snowfall in the area was around 15 inches, but there was so much wind that some spots (like a patch of yard next to our house) ended up with almost no snow, while other spots (like the garden bed out front where some hopeful daffodils were thinking about blooming a couple of weeks ago) are now under 3-foot snow drifts. So I didn't get very far when I somewhat foolishly tried to walk in the Roy H. Park Preserve on Thursday morning without my snowshoes. I'd forgotten how hard it is to walk while repeatedly sinking into almost-knee-high snow! Before I turned around I was at least able to admire the walls of snow-covered conifers:
And I enjoyed these dainty alder catkins (not yet in bloom) that were dangling next to the path:
When I got back home, I strapped on my snowshoes and added another layer of clothing (it was sunny outside but the wind was intense!) and I headed back out to walk along the fields near our house. I wasn't about to miss out on one of the only substantial snowfalls we've had this winter!
I love the combination of snow and bright blue sky, and this sky was amazing:
The wind really was strong. Big clouds of snow kept blowing off the trees on a neighboring hillside:
And when I turned around after 15 minutes or so of walking, the wind was already working on filling in my footprints:
A Turkey Vulture soared overhead, showing off wing and tail feathers that look like they could be made of steel:
What a cool sight: huge majestic Turkey Vulture and huge billowy clouds:
One more picture:
I'm glad I got to enjoy these post-snowstorm sights. Today has remained sunny and beautiful, and our neighborhood American Kestrel even stopped by again, looking extra handsome in the bright afternoon light:
With all the sunshine, the snow is already on its way out. I'll be curious to see how long it takes for this snow to fully melt!
It's snowing heavily outside right now, and many places around here (and the roads, too) are closed to wait out the storm. This is only our second real snowstorm of the winter, and it's the middle of March! Have I mentioned that this winter is weird?
Yesterday afternoon, while the weather was still calm, a male American Kestrel showed up to hunt along the road next to our house:
A kestrel has been hunting in our neighborhood on and off all winter, and I wonder if this is the same bird. Either way, he's such a gorgeous fellow, and his fancy costume looks especially bright amid the still brown-white-gray landscape. He flew off to perch on the roof of a neighboring house, a tiny raptor on the lookout for a meal:
Somewhere off in the woods, a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds was making a lot of noise. I couldn't easily see the flock, so I'm not exactly sure how many birds were out there, but they were certainly vocal! I don't think I've ever heard so many Red-winged Blackbirds calling at once! Here's a recording:
I hope all these birds (not to mention the Spring Peepers I heard the other week) are hunkered down somewhere safe in all this snow!
The Arcata Bottoms really are a haven for raptors (and shorebirds, and geese, and ducks, and so on...). In a previous post, I noted that the many fence posts around these pastures seem to make excellent perches for the wide variety of raptors that hunt here. After new visits to the Arcata Bottoms last weekend and again this morning, I have some more fence post sentries to add to the list, starting with this little American Kestrel (with lounging cows for a backdrop):
American Kestrels are our smallest raptors, but Merlins aren't much bigger, and these fence posts seem to be just the right size for those little hunters as well:
Aren't Turkey Vultures too big for these wooden posts? I guess not:
One Turkey Vulture on a roadside post let me inch up next to it in my car, at least up to a point; I'm pretty sure this is the closest I've been to a Turkey Vulture in the wild, and it took off (to land on a post further away) just after I took this picture:
Wow, what beautiful massive wings, and what a bizarre skull-like head. Turkey vultures are so cool.
While I'm already sharing sights from the Bottoms, how about some water birds? Three male Buffleheads paddled around together (while a group of several female Buffleheads hung out a little ways away):
And a big flock of American Coots demonstrated how cool their black-white-gray outfits look en masse:
We've had rainy and gray weather for what seems like forever at this point, but even when rain threatens at least I can drive through the Bottoms and still get to see new and interesting things!
OK, one last catch-up post! A few days before Thanksgiving, Paul and I drove down to San Francisco to explore that city for the first time. Just like people say, it's a very cool place, and we had a great time. On the way back up north, we decided to visit Point Reyes National Seashore, and that turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip. We drove miles and miles off the highway, into what seemed increasingly like the middle of nowhere. And it was raining. A lot. We figured even with the downpour, we might drive up to an overlook, maybe hop out of the car for a few seconds to look around, then head back to the highway. But somehow, as we crossed into to the park, the rain stopped, and even the clouds went away! It was still very cold and very windy (somehow we always end up at the top of high windy spots during our vacations...) but we actually got to explore, and we saw lots of awesome things.
Let's start with the mammals. A bunch of Elephant Seals were hauled out on a beach where they apparently return every year to breed. I've certainly never seen these big creatures before, and I don't know when I'll get a chance to see them again; very cool:
None of the monstrous adult males were present, but the females and younger seals were strange enough, with their pointy noses and loud blubbery calls. A couple of seals were tussling in the water near where we stood on the cliff (territorial or amorous, I don't know!):
There was plenty of motion on the beach, too. Look at all the funny noses!
The seals took turns complaining loudly:
As we drove on through the park toward the actual point, a few other big mammals showed up as well. Black-tailed Deer (a subspecies of Mule Deer, it seems) watched us from fields near the road:
This male Black-tailed Deer was looking very impressive indeed:
He ambled across the road in front of us and joined two females nearby:
Just a little ways past the deer, we were surprised to see another creature in the road:
Coyote! I was worried that this creature was injured, but it got up and walked away when our car passed.... Hopefully the coyote was just relaxing on the warm pavement (although this is definitely not a safe place to doze). Injured or not, our car inched very close to this creature before it finally moved on, and it was amazing to see this guy (or girl) up close:
So dog-like, and also not:
Be comfortable, coyote, but don't rest here too long:
The bird life on Point Reyes was similarly amazing. A flock of young Western Meadowlarks foraged next to the road:
And I met two totally new birds in the alien landscape on the very top of the point. (And I should say, standing in that place felt like being at the edge of the world, with all the buffeting winds and ocean on every side. It was incredible.) First, there was a Say's Phoebe (yes, that's the ocean in the background):
Then a Rock Wren (is that a skull?):
The park was also a haven for raptors. A tiny American Kestrel perched on a little rock ledge near the road:
And we saw many Red-tailed Hawks, including this rather damp individual early in our visit:
The coolest views of Red-tailed Hawks, though, were when we were high up on the point and saw these creatures soaring practically at eye level:
The wind was so strong that the hawks were barely moving; they seemed more like tethered kites floating in the air. What an awesome sight:
Oh yeah, and the views from the point were incredible. Goodness, what a place:
There are so many amazing places in northern California. I just need to see as much as I can while I'm living here!
Wednesday was my last regular visit to Silver Sands State Park in my official capacity as a volunteer Piping Plover monitor for the year. No shorebirds nested here this year -- same as last year, unfortunately -- but I've had a lot of fun on my shore-side trips nonetheless. The many active creatures on Wednesday morning made for an awesome beach day to round out the season!
I have lots of things to share, but this hawk definitely stole the show:
I'm not totally confident in my juvenile hawk identification skills, but I'm about 95% sure this is a young Red-shouldered Hawk. (It had pale crescent-shaped patches on the tops of its wings, which is apparently a good indication of that species, and it was missing the dark leading edges under its wings that a Red-tailed Hawk usually has.) Anyway, a few seconds after I noticed the hawk in its tree, it flew down and flopped onto the ground:
I guess wings aren't very useful on the ground among woody stalks, but the hawk soon got its appendages under control. It seemed very interested in something at its feet:
After a brief tussle, the hawk was off into the air again, now with a meal in its talons:
Oh! It's a snake!
I caught up with the hawk again later, and by that time the snake was already half gone:
Poor snake. (I wonder what kind it was.) The hawk seemed happy with its prize, though.
A crow was hopping around and calling nearby, but the hawk didn't share, and the snake was gone pretty quickly anyway:
Well hunted, young hawk!
An American Kestrel -- a much smaller raptor -- was hunting in this part of the park as well:
These little predators are just too cute, with their big eyes and tiny beaks:
In another area of the park, dozens of Barn Swallows made a cool sight as they preened and chittered to each other, all lined up on electrical wires:
A Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly looked especially striking with the sunlight shining through its stained-glass wings:
And of course, now that I've emphasized (in my last post) how unusual it is to see Clapper Rails in the open, I've seen these birds up close on each of my last three visits to the park. Well, I'm not complaining! I guess late summer is just a good time to see these cool, funky-looking birds:
The shore has definitely been a great place to visit this summer. And now that my volunteer duties are finished, I'm hoping there will be more time soon for some woods walks!
