Snow on Daffodils

A friend who has lived in this area forever says it always snows when the daffodils bloom. And it almost always has since we moved here in 1977. Yesterday, Feb. 17, the first daffodils opened and I picked some for a bouquet, along with hellebores that have been blooming for weeks.

Today, Feb. 18, it snowed.

I hear it is snowing on the coast, too. Once a month I do a beached bird survey at Bob Straub Park by Pacific City, about 25 miles west of our farm. It is my way of having an excuse to go to the coast every month all year. In the spring and summer, I do Black Oystercatcher surveys several times a week, but once they are done nesting, I have no excuse to go... except this survey (plus a once-a-quarter survey for CoastWatch... see next blog post).

But I mostly just want to hike the beach in nice weather and enjoy the scenery, so I watch the weather reports and carefully pick a good day. Such a day was February 9. The beach had been remodeled by the high tide events in January, thanks to the Super Moon. I took lots of photos.

Waves took out a goodly section of the foredune.

I was there at low tide... the beach was very wide...

A closer shot of the bite the waves took out of the dune

Some of the beach grass is hanging on desperately. Imagine waves high enough to reach the top of that dune!

The sand stolen from the dune was deposited on top of the wood that the ocean routinely dumps on the beach.

Here's a closer look at the wood (logs) peeking out from under all that sand.

Looking toward Haystack Rock and Cape Kiwanda, where our family has been going forever. It is now very crowded by the Cape and I enjoy seeing it more, now, from Bob Straub Park beach. Here I see very few people, usually a few horseback riders, lots of shorebirds, and pretty views.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Sanderlings were on the beach this day.

Sanderlings up close

Haystack Rock up close

 I took lots of photos of Haystack Rock and could not choose which one I liked best. So here they all are...

Black Oystercatchers nest on that rock most every year but it is very hard to find them. Someone else now surveys that rock but has not found nests. I think I will bring my scope to Bob Straub Park next summer and see if I can find little black birds with red bills on the distant rock.

The access point to the beach has this sign for the Coast Guard to know where to come if beachcombers get washed away. The sign below it warning about extreme high tides is new since the Super Tides of January.

Happily, on this day I found no beached (dead) birds. Just a lovely flat beach with stunning views. Here's hoping I'll be as lucky in March.