3, 6 February

 

3 February

An unusual mid-afternoon visit to the Forest and Wetlands, after a morning eye exam.  A lesson--birding doesn't really go very well with dilated pupils.  Notwithstanding which, it was a pleasant visit.  

On approaching the trailhead to the Marsh, I detoured to check the Happy Cow Farm, just up the road.  Sure enough, there were abundant trumpeter swans.  They've been present since the end of October this year.

The weather has warmed up to unseasonal levels, awakening the tree frogs.  They were very vocal--to paraphrase Tennyson, "In the springtime of the year, treefrogs' fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."  (Apologies, Lord Alfred.)  Unfortunately, I couldn't see any frogs in the forest.  They're tiny, and with impaired vision, although they were loud and abundant, they weren't visible.   They're awake and active,  but the chance that the weather will become cold again puts them at risk.  

The seasonal rains have left more ephemeral ponds throughout the Forest than I recall seeing in previous years.  

They always appear in the winter months, but they seem to be showing in places I've not seen them before.  If they last until spring, they'll be safer habitat for salamanders and newts to breed than the Marsh, where they are prey for bullfrogs. 

High cloud admitted a filtered sunlight that illumined mosses.  Water droplets gleamed at the ends of cat-tail moss.

In the last blog, I mentioned four species of fern.  I omitted licorice fern, which is even less common in the Forest.  One is quite visible beside the trail, high on a snag that hosts a variety of flora.

The dock was a warm and pleasant place to drink a cup of tea and listen to marsh wrens--again, I couldn't see them, but they seem to be becoming more active.  The water level is holding steady, as the snowpack on the mountains shrinks.

Calm winds and waters provided a reflection of the Marsh fringe and mountains.

At the southeast end of the Marsh, a small, varied flock of ducks was present.

There are a pair of mallards in the foreground.  In the water behind them there are a pair of buffleheads and one ring-necked duck. And a small, brown, diving duck, too distant to idenitify from the photo.

As I left the Marsh, I admired a pleasing natural arrangement of salal and moss.

6 February

Closely spaced visits to the Forest and Wetlands, in hopes that restored vision would increase sightings.  It didn't, but it was still a fine visit on a mild day with high clouds and filtered sunlight, after a frosty night.

The cold night appeared to subdue the treefrog population, until as the day warmed, they began their song.

The dry weather inspired me to pay a visit to the path that branches back to the first trailhead.  The linking loop path had been blocked by a downed Douglas fir for some time, but it has been cleared. 

 Vegetation on the branch path and the loop path is quite different from that on the main path to the dock.  

There is much more hemlock than in the predominantly Douglas fir and cedar forest on the way to the dock. 

Hemlock often starts from a nurse stump.

Much of the branch path shows as an even wetter environment than the main path.  There are large patches of slough sedge.

The anonymous but very helpful "Forest Gnome" has put in log bridges at points along the path.  One of these hosts what I think is a young growth of red-belted polypore (please correct me, readers, if you can).

I'm inclined to call this "poached egg fungus," because of its appearance, but as it matures it becomes red-belted polypore.  Typically it emerges from dead and downed trees, and contributes to the tree's decomposition, and thus to the forest's nutrition.   

Occasional hemlock along the path show a curious perforation over their length.

Sapsuckers are common in this forest, and leave lines of perforation on trees, but these are exceptionally closely spaced and intense.  In addition, they often are occupied by what are either fungi or slime molds.  If this photo is enlarged, it's evident that something (I think fungus?) is emerging from the perforations.  

In this case, the holes are likely the work of a pileated woodpecker.

A cushiony moss is developing on a downed log.  I think it's an ulota (again, knowledgeable readers, please advise).

The water level in the Marsh appears to have dropped very slightly, a disturbing sight.  Hopefully more rain will fall and the level and the snowpack will rise.

At the far southeast end of the Marsh, a small assortment of ducks swam about, including a handsome pair of hooded mergansers.

The female was present but disappeared into the vegetation before I could get a photo.  

Along the trail leading from the Marsh, I could see that the leaves on the salmonberry vines are just starting to sprout.

No doubt they soon will be showing their wonderful pink blossoms.