Sunday, January 15, 2012

A great day for snow

The conditions were perfect - a light dusting of an inch or so of snow; clear weather; and a temperature that uncharacteristically stayed below freezing for most of the day.  Perfect, for what?  Skiing?  Too shallow.  Snowshoeing?  Not worth the effort.  Cycling?  Definitely.  Fresh snow gives just the right amount of traction for adding a bit of challenge to a bike ride, and conveniently wipes off the mud from my last off-road excursion.  Destination?  The dyke, of course.


The "Wind Waves" art installation in Steveston is definitely a nice drop of colour on what would otherwise be a shades-of-grey kind of day.

My first sighting of a Northern Goshawk


Not quite skate-worthy

People who choose to ignore the "no dogs" sign, right after unleashing their dogs in the environmentally sensitive habitat
A bald eagle...

...to be joined by its mate


They didn't look like any gull I've ever seen - they had a grey body, with a slightly darker grey head


Not quite a funnel cloud...just a localized snowstorm


A pair of Gadwalls (first)


Trumpeter swans, triumphantly flying overhead (first)

Red breasted Mergansers sporting their messy-hair look (first)

Brewer's blackbird, showing a bit of its characteristic 
iridescence


Snowgeese, who are probably thinking to themselves, "if this is the worst winter has to offer, why bother flying further south than this."

Lots of first-ever sightings for me (or at least, the first time I've been able know what I'm looking at) and a bit of exercise made this a good day.  The snow would've made today an opportune occasion to view the snowy owls , but that may need to wait.