Birds Departed, Snow Retreating

Overcast with some rain at points during the day. A bit breezy in the afternoon, though it seemed calm in the morning and evening.

Walking around the park this morning, things were much quieter. Far fewer ducks and shorebirds than there had been the night before.

There were quite a few Marbled Murrelets out on the bay, and at least a couple of Rhinoceros Auklets as well.


A Chestnut-backed Chickadee was wrestling a clump of doghair bigger than it was. It ultimately only flew off with a bit of it, but it was kind of funny to see how much it was working on. At first glance, it took me a moment to register what I was seeing.


At Rowan’s request, we went for a drive out the road this afternoon. I had been curious about Harbor Mountain road. While we were out, I drove up there to see how much of it was open. Both the 0-gate and the first gate were open. There was no snow until just before the second gate. At the second gate, the road was covered in snow. It was a little surprising just how abrupt the change was.

On the Silver Bay side of things there were several Rhinoceros Auklets and a nice group or two of Pacific Loons (I had heard there were seveal such groups earlier in the morning).

This evening I prepared my radio show for tomorrow. I recycled an older show featuring bird songs. At some point I may try to put together a set of clips with bird songs that I could merge together into a show if I want, but they would be useful as stand alone segments for learning some of the common songs around here.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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