DeBoville Slough Trail
Last time I saw this place it was a toasty August day, but this morning temperatures hovered just around freezing — a bit below in the shade, a bit above in sunlight. Frost was everywhere, and it melted very very slowly while we were there.
I was okay with that, since it gave me lots of chances to take some closeup shots of frost crystals. I’d done it before, a couple times way back when, but not with this present fancy camera. I’m really not clear on the physics involved — it’s a kind of crystal, like snow, though with no hexagonal symmetry, just rough fibres of ice growing every which way, even from… the edges of leaves? I mean sure, why not? It’s beautiful any way you look at it.
This Marsh Wren didn’t mind the frost or the thorns.
Even when birbs are scarce, this trail still gives you amazing views of Pitt River.
Likewise, when the soil is frozen, you fly up and grab those winter berries!
Blakeburn Lagoons Park
In the back of my mind I was hoping to see the resident Green Heron, but alas it was nowhere to be seen. It probably wouldn’t have much fun seeing as the ponds were pretty much frozen even around noon.
Which explains the lack of ducks, too.
Still, there was this one Anna’s, claiming an entire line of trees as his own. Anna’s Hummingbirds start staking out territories and courting very early in the year. This one is a catch, I’m sure. Look how shiny he is!
A Varied Thrush! Haven’t seen this pretty bird in a hot minute.
ƛ̓éxətəm (Tlahutum) Regional Park
The sun was getting very low by the time we got to Tlahutum, and our hopes for cool birbs weren’t especially high…
But then! We saw dozens of voles (I think that’s what they were?) lining the trail, zipping out to nibble on grasses, then zipping back to the safety of their lairs under dead winter grasses if any huge lumbering bipeds approached. But wait a few moments, and they were likely to reemerge even if you were there. That’s how hungry they were.
I’d never seen them before! No, not even at Tlahutum, where I’ve walked the trails dozens of times, and which presumably is their home. They are super cute with their little rodenty grasping paws, squishy noses, and stubby little ears!
By then, the light was too dim for wildlife photography, so here’s a sunset shot from near the main pond!
