5 December Photos: Indian River

I hiked up to the first bridge on Indian River Trail this afternoon. I wanted to check out the confluence of the West and Falls forks of Indian River. As I suspected, the Falls Fork was largely frozen, while the West Fork was running ice free.

Weather: Mostly clear skies continued, with temperatures a little warmer, but still quite chilly. The Falls Fork of Indian River was significantly frozen near the confluence with the West Fork. As usual, the West Fork was completely ice free.

Birds: It was quiet on the walk up the trail, but on the way back I heard several Winter Wrens and Ravens. I also heard Golden-crowned Kinglets, and probably Brown Creepers, though I’m not entirely confident in my ability to correctly recognize their calls.

While I was at the confluence, I saw a duck (probably Mallard) fly over along the river channel. It flew up from downstream and continued up the Falls Fork. I also saw an American Dipper while I was there.

On the way back there was a Common Merganser on the river a little ways upstream from the bedrock cascade.

Near the muskeg on the way back I heard a call that sounded like it could have been a Western Screech Owl (though not the typical bouncing ball call). I investigated further and upon hearing it again realized it could have been an eagle. It seems strange to not be able to tell whether a call was an eagle or a screech owl, but I did not last long and was some distance away. It was still daylight, so it seemed a bit early for owls, plus I saw an eagle fly over while I was trying to find the source of the call.