Chattermarks

Winter may be time for hibernation, but spring is fast approaching, ready or not! Our field excursions have been hitting the trails the past few weekends and watching the signs and cycles of of change. Last weekend the Nooksack Snowshoe excursion went to the riverbed again. No hoar crystals anymore, but there was plenty to see. We checked out elk tracks, followed a female coyote preparing for pups and traced a set a of striped skunk tracks directly to the source! (“Whoa, everybody take a step back, there she is!”)

» Continue reading Gettin’ out on the flats…

The recent temperature inversion set has had a noticeable effect in the cities, with cold freezing fog, but up in the mountains that same phenomena has been creating sunny skies and melt-freeze sun crusts on the snow. On Saturday morning we headed up the North Fork of the Nooksack River to check out what kinds of goings-on happen in the winter. It was pretty cold, and the snow was very crusty.

An elk track in the crust on the riverbed

» Continue reading Tracking through crystals

It takes a hale and hearty individual to get up in the dark and head out into the teeth of an arctic blast, but Sunday, December 13, two vanloads of us joined Libby Mills as we headed up river in search of eagles. After a round of introductions, we drove to the banks of the mighty Skagit. Early on we were rewarded with views of juvenile and adult eagles perching, feeding and calling.

» Continue reading Eagles and salmon… and dippers