A Walk In The Snow

Access to the Silverdale Creek Wetlands has been very difficult for the last two weeks.  The trail head is located off Old Silverdale Rd. which is a secondary route and as such has had the traffic lanes plowed but parking on site is impossible.  Up until the recent rains very few people or animals had walked the path and breaking trail required walking through knee deep snow.

However the short walk through deep snow provided spectacular viewing of a winter wetland. 

 

On the surface few signs of life were evident but quiet observation revealed  water fowl in both the north pond and in the creek itself.  Coyote scat and prints were abundant and beaver had made a meal of at least 15 of our newly planted cottonwood.  Even though these trees had protective plastic guards the determined animals were able to stretch tall enough to chew through the trunks above the plastic.  It would appear that some taller wire is required. 

The salmon statue at the end of the path made a perfect vantage point to watch a red tailed hawk that was hunting the exposed grass banks near the highway.

The newly installed pier over the pond's drainage gate also made an excellent view point.  It overlooks the eastern forested slope of ecological reserve. Higher flows caused by the on again off again snow melt have kept the pond from freezing completely over.  Bird and other wildlife activity is evident near the open water.