16 June

Despite the date, the Forest and Wetlands were dark this morning.  The term "Juneuary" seemed to apply.


Despite the grey chill this morning, the season is advancing, with new arrivals of birds and new growth.  

The woodpeckers have been active.  Their favourite stump continues to shrink.


A huckleberry bush made a start on this nurse stump last year, but perished in a snowfall.  This year it looks as though two little berry bushes are making an attempt.


Along the path, foamflower lives up to its name. 


Doesn't it look like little fountains emerging from the greenery?

Somehow we seem to have missed the twinflower in its delicate bloom last year.  


The Marsh is increasingly lush and green, 


and the water level is still high, despite a shrinking snow pack on Arrowsmith.


Swallows swooped busily over the Marsh, mostly at a distance that made photos challenging.


The resident blackbirds were busily hunting bugs for their nestlings.  This one was quite vocal--not singing, but producing its chip note--"Pek!" regularly.

 


I'm not sure he was happy about being photographed:


I've long been fascinated by the facial expressions that birds can produce.  This photo demands a caption:  ??  

For the first time this season, we saw cedar waxwings.  It looked as though the black twinberries were attracting them.


The Marsh had also yielded a stand of monkey flowers.


A doe watched us from a discreet distance.


By the time we left the dock, the sky had cleared and the light in the Marsh and Forest and brightened.  We admired a piece of avian real estate,


seemingly unoccupied at present, but an attractive home for some cavity nester.  We'll monitor in future weeks.




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