Hamilton Wetlands and Forest

  There really is no such thing as an indifferent visit to the Hamilton Wetlands and Forest, but Saturday was exceptional.  The brilliantly clear sunlight illumined the forest,  initially from a low angle as the sun moves to the south seasonally.   As I set out, I realised with a bit of a cringe that it was the autumn Big Day for birders, which likely meant that the paths would be filled with talkative folks.  I've nothing against birders (duh--I am one, after all), but the amount of blether that accompanies a Big Day unfortunately reduces the number of birds that will emerge to be recorded.   As luck would have it, there were only two groups of any size in the Forest, both young and enthusiastic and --oh well--vocal. At the point where the path branches off to the loop, I hesitated, and saw that the first group was headed straight to the dock.  Fine, I thought, and made my way to the branched path. The sun set the hemlock aglow. New fungus appeared along the branch route. These lo

  A visit to the Forest and Wetlands on a dark morning.  It remained dry, and the path to the dock was only damp, but it definitely showed the changing season.  The bigleaf maples are adorning the paths and undergrowth with their golden foliage. Strange to relate, there seemed to be fewer fungi than were present two weeks ago.  Still, there were some tiny beauties among the mosses. I don't understand this, but cloudy mornings often seem to bring out more birds--mostly songbirds.  At the junction of the trail and the trail loop, there were golden-crowned kinglets,  Pacific wrens, spotted towhees adding their rather grumpy squawks, and red-breasted nuthatches commenting from the treetops.  And a red squirrel, less vocal than during previous visits, perhaps because he was feeding busily on something (I'm not sure on what but he seemed to be enjoying it.). There were an abundance of birds audible on this visit, although they weren't cooperative with photos.  A red-breasted saps