Like Being at Freezeout Lake

The NWS says that we will be getting hit with a historic storm this evening- So, I took the Black Dog out for a slightly longer/better walk than usual on a Friday morning. We went to ta local fishing access site. Obsidian loves that field. I’m really glad we did.

As we were driving in, I had to stop on the road and snap a few pictures of a Wilsons Snipe accompanied by four Rusty Blackbirds foraging along the creaked. Rusty’s should be gone by now- I think we have a lot of birds in the valley that missed the migration memo.

Once we got out for a walk, I started hearing the low kazoo-y sound of Trumpeter Swans. I stopped and looked around and saw at least 500 of them taking flight from a fallow field about 1/2 mile to the west. As I was looking at the Swans, I heard the growly honk of a Snow Goose- spotted about 6 of those flying over at a good altitude. Then, I looked to the South and saw thousands and thousands of ducks flying at me. Obi and I stopped and watched as flight after flight of mallards and who-knows-what-else flew just overhead and landed a few hundred yards away in a pond on private property.

Then we started seeing the American Tree Sparrows. 

I was unable to get any pictures of the swans and geese- as I was totally “in the moment” with them. It was really, really satisfying to see and hear all that wildlife only 6 miles from home.

Not a bad way to start a Friday!