A Brief Emergence from Hibernation

Last Friday the SUN appeared for the first time in a long time and the temperature got close to fifty, so I was able to ESCAPE the confines of human habitation!

I took the Hounds for a walk at the McNary Wildlife Refuge in nearby Burbank in order to look for Snow Geese, and hey, I found a few.

Snow Geese migrate every winter from the Far North to more pleasant climes.  Many of them seem to like the Skagit Valley (an hour or so north of Seattle), where I used to see 30-40,000 of them hanging out.  Down here we get fewer, but still a few thousand.

I timed my visit just right -- a large flock was on the water, and then began moving en masse to the fields to feed.

There were other birds around -- hundeds of Mallards, and a couple of Canvasback ducks, but I only had eyes for the Snow Geese.

Two other random birders were there enjoying the show, and we had a nice chat about Snow Geese We Have Seen (and Heard -- the honking is quite something).

I'm glad the weather cooperated so I could see these lovely birds.  Of course, next day the overcast and the cold returned -- so I am hunkering back down into hibernation mode once more.

Happy Winter!