Bling and Birding

Today, at the end of a busy 3-day weekend, I finally got out of the house for a hike. The snow has all melted and we have been getting huge amounts of rain (more typical for us), so it was a pretty soggy hike.

It has been an unusually dry winter here, though, so it was nice to feel like we were finally hydrated again.

Additionally, the water provided a little “bling” to the landscape and made even the boring browns of fallen leaves rather poetic.

I saw a bald eagle gliding along the cliffs as I drove by earlier in the day, but I didn’t see him along my hike. I did meet a new resident: the brown creeper. This is a TERRIBLE name for this all-together charming bird. I had always wondered who was making the “tsee” noise but I could never figure it out. Today, however, when I looked up I finally caught a movement. And you needed movement to find him.

He looked like a moving piece of bark as he worked the tree. As I moved in for a better look (and hopefully a picture) I admire him work his way up the tree, then systematically move to the bottom of the next and work up again. At one point he was so close I was afraid he would start to work me!

As we ended our hike, I spotted an acorn woodpecker. I always admire the way this family (Downy, Acorn, Sapsucker, Pilated) are built alike. This one posed for a while before flying away.

Spring is definitely coming… as I drove away I noticed a pair of red tail hawks circling… they aren’t ready to mate yet, but they are scoping out the territory.