December Rain and Snow

 December has been a whirlwind so far. It started out on the first day with our Grand Ronde raptor route that included wreath deliveries to friends. The next day was my Beached Bird survey. Those were about the only two good weather days in the month so far.

The King Tides and stormy weather had completely re-sculpted the dune at Bob Straub State Park, where I do my beached bird survey. The dune had become a very long steep cliff. When I arrived just as the 9 foot tide was going out, the waves were lapping at the base of the dune so I had to walk on top of it to get to my starting point, one kilometer from the access trail at the parking lot. Up on top were logs that had been thrown up there by the stormy sea.

 

By the time I reached my starting point, I could hike and look for dead birds on the sand since the tide was going out. When I finished my survey and was walking back, I could not resist taking a photo, as usual, of beautiful Chief Kiawanda Rock off Cape Kiawanda. Another lovely day on the Oregon coast... one I carefully chose out of a month of stormy seas. Not too many beached birds either!

We did our North Santiam raptor run on the 8th, when the weather was wet at our farm but dry by the time we got to Salem where our route begins. At the far west end of our route, in Gates, it was raining and the birds were hiding, but the middle gave us our usual number of raptors... Birds can fly, after all, to find decent weather... and food.

It was a foggy cold and misty day on the 10th when Johnny called me out of the house to say there was a Bald Eagle on the big broken topped fir at the west end of our fields. It posed for my camera.

Four days later, we had our first snowfall of the year. I took photos early in the morning before it turned to slush.

The tree in our front yard is getting almost too tall for me to string lights on... so I just throw the strings over the top. It looks very pretty at night but the lights are not very visible in my photos.

 

Up in the mountains around us, the snow did not melt but just accumulated. Two days after our snow had come and gone, we attempted to do our sector of the Upper Nestucca Christmas Bird Count. Very little of our area was passable. There was a lot of snow in the count circle.

 We have been pet-sitting friend Mark's wee dog while he is recovering from falls and other undetermined health problems. Ranger (or RainGear as Johnny calls him, having originally misunderstood what his name was and decided to stick with RainGear) loved the snow... although it was very deep for his short legs, only 3 of which touch the ground, one having been injured in a car accident Mark had a few months earlier. But Ranger gamely bounded ahead whenever the trail was open enough. Otherwise one of us broke trail for him. Here he is on Johnny's heels...

There were not many birds to be seen, but plenty of pretty scenery.

And now, one week before Christmas Day we have snow and cold rain with more of the same predicted. Winter officially begins tomorrow... when the days start to lengthen. I am typing this at 6 a.m. when the outside world is still pitch dark. Bring on the light!