January 25th - 1st Day of Spring 2015

Clear skies, bright sun, temp in mid 60s. Went for a run in T-shirt and shorts and came back after an hour with shirt wet from perspiration. Lots of people out enjoying the Sunday afternoon treat. Not bad for our location at ~48° N latitude.

Checked a weather source. The high here was 63°F today, breaking the old high of 56°F set in 1951. Breaking a 64 year old record by 7°F seemed especially noteworthy.

It is now tomorrow and I see the record for today was 64°, also in 1951. Our temp only got to 63°, so the record-breaking heat wave is over and yesterday's record seems less impressive, although some towns nearby got to 67° today.

Took the opportunity for an hour bike ride on the North Creek Trail, whose trail head is a 15 min. drive from our house. The trail goes south to the Sammamish River Tail, which goes east to Redmond and Lake Sammamish, or west to join the Burke-Gillman Trail around Lake Washington and Union Lake and through Ballard to Golden Gardens Park on the Sound.

On another note, several pairs of gadwalls have been here for about a month, joining a couple of mallard pairs, and three pairs of bufflehead ducks. Hope the temperature doesn't confuse them, prompting an early migration north.

Spurious observation: I've noticed no teals here since two years ago, when there were several.

Good Things Come To ...

Mr. Ringed-neck is a stud. Two females joined him today and they are now their own social group.

OOPS: It's two days later and Mr. Ringneck is apparently a stud-not. The females have moved on to greener pastures and stud-not is back hanging with the Mallardos, cooling his bachelor heels.

Substitute Flock

The gadwall pair were apparently just passing through. But for the last month, the resident mallard pairs have accepted a lone male ringed-neck duck into their social group. Perhaps it will be his first mating season. In any case, he remains here awaiting a mate.

Back In The Loop

Two winters ago, Gadwalls were the dominant species overwintering on our pond. Last year there were none seen. This week a pair returned. Perhaps we are back in their loop, a comforting thought.

Winter on the Way - 2013

Happy belated pumpkin day.
Our first frost usually happens around November 1st. This year it came on Oct 28th.
Mallards still frequent the pond. They are the only waterfowl here in the late summer and early autumn.
The first Buffleheads were seen to return on November 6th. A wigeon visited the pond on November 24th to wish us happy gobble-day.
Our first snow day was December 20.

 

Spring Comes To Cherry Pond

I had been adding new material to my original Cherry Pond post, but decided to bring the new material up to this new post.

The pond greeted us on the first day of spring with a frosting surprise.

I briefly thought of joining this year's class action suit against that fraudulent expert witness Punxsutawney Phil, who appears to have pulled a fast one on us this year. However, most snow melted by sundown, so we'll let Phil off the hook once again.

Also that night, the snow seemed to bring a newcomer to the pond area, the first owl I've heard since moving here. It was an 8-hoot owl (say 'who cooks for you' twice, with slight emphasis on you), also known as a Barred Owl, an eastern newcomer to the area that is becoming a threat to our native Northern Spotted Owl. He was quite vocal between 11PM and midnight, and I fell asleep to repeated calls every 30 seconds or so. But apparently, no female answered, so his was a one night concert.

An April surprise brought a Canada Goose to the railing of our deck, remaining there for at least 15 minutes and allowing me to open the door ten feet away and take photos. I thanked the goose, and it flew off to answer the call of some geese at the other end of the pond.

The goose had attracted my attention via a repeated knocking noise, waking me and beckoning me to get out of bed and answer the back door. I truly am a fully rational being, but a primal, shadowy thought, from seemingly nowhere, flitted across my consciousness: what spirit associated with this location might have returned to visit in the shape of a goose? I can easily imagine how my prehistoric Germanic ancestors were motivated to devote considerable spiritual energy toward such augury, often involving birds. Will such workings of the human brain ever be fathomed? Omen, omen, speak to me; should I play the lottery?

A further surprise came that evening, when the Barred Owl's return was noted, even closer than before, so that Debby could hear it also.

Our New Home on Cherry Pond

Our new house sits on the SE corner of Cherry Pond, our water (retention) feature. Our back yard is a large deck facing ~NNW, perhaps 5m above the pond.

The pond hosts several species of ducks (mostly just passing through I think, but the first three below have been here every day for our first winter here). The following pictures were mostly taken from our deck. Apologies for the blurry ones (light is getting low here in the NW in the morning); the blurry ones will be replaced as soon as better are available.

Mallard (daily)

Gadwall (Daily Autumn-Spring))

Bufflehead (daily)

Eurasian (Common) Teal (Winter)

Green-winged Teal (Autumn-Winter-Spring)

Ring-necked Duck(Autumn, Spring)

Lesser Scaup (Autumn), Spring)

Hooded Merganser (Autumn)

Common Merganser (Autumn)

 Canada Goose (Autumn, Spring)

Also observed: American Wigeon, Osprey

Postscript

The pond changes its characteristics in winter.

Pictured above is our one snow flurry of an otherwise Snowless in Seattle winter.