The sun was shining on December 24th! Rain was predicted for Christmas Day so we took the opportunity to drive up into the woods the day before and do our sort-of-traditional Christmas Day waterfall hike, traditional as of last year, I think, after our friends, John and Barbara Woodhouse, whom we used to bird with on Christmas Day, moved to stay with family in Minnesota because of failing health. Sadly, Barbara Woodhouse died the last day of November 2020. It's been a hard year.
But yesterday was a cool, sunny day and we were determined to enjoy it. And we did. Our first stop up the road was at the old rock quarry, home to a beautiful little lake and usually some interesting wildlife. Last visit there was a weasel and a Dipper. This time it was a Bald Eagle, sitting high above the quarry on a tall snag. I took photos from two slightly different angles, then tried to crop out my camera water spots. Now I can't tell which photos were taken from which angle but here they are...
That was a good start to our excursion. Just a bit farther down the road Johnny spotted another eagle on another snag on the opposite side of the road. I tried taking photos from the car but there were branches in the way so I got out and managed to get a couple shots through the branches.
I wanted to show how tall the snag was so Johnny drove a little farther and I took a photo from there. Snag was farther away now and the eagle very small.
I've cropped the photo so you can see there really is an eagle up there...
We finally reached the waterfall path. I've always called this Yoncalla Falls since it is just off the Yoncalla Rd. but Johnny tells me it is really on Boulder Creek that runs into Yoncalla River, so should be called Boulder Falls. Yoncalla has its own falls that is not visible from the road. You can see it on my Waterfalls blog here: https://ourwaterfallproject.blogspot.com/2016/02/yoncalla-falls.html In that blog, I call the one pictured below West Fork Yoncalla Falls instead of Boulder Falls. I don't think it has an official name.
The moss and fern cliff next to it is beautiful.
And the elf below it this day is pretty cute.
We only found one American Dipper. Agency Creek was high and wild, so maybe most had moved upstream, or just happened to be under water when we drove by. This bird we watched for several minutes as it hopped out of the water and back in, swimming, diving, presumably catching water creatures.
At one point, we spotted a little brown bird hopping about in the leaves by the roadside. It turned out to be a Hermit Thrush.
It was a nice day for our now-annual Christmas season waterfall hike.
Today, Christmas Day, is wet and cold. Very wet. Very cold. But staying indoors has its benefits: ZOOMing with the kids, connecting with friends by phone, and lots of eating.
Happy Holidays!
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