The "Arctic Blast" Continues

You know how unprecedented this type of weather is in the Pacific Northwest when all the news channels go into "24/7 we interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcasting to give you up to the second weather updates" mode. Indeed, it has been remarkable. Yesterday we woke up to 1/8 to 1/4 inch of ice on top of 10 inches of snow as a result of the freezing rain, creating a winter wonderland The Apartment Biologist aptly described as like walking on a giant creme brule. Everything, right down to the very last pine needle, was coated in ice, making for some beautiful outdoor ice sculptures, featured in the pictures with this post. Then, just when we hear the temperatures may start warming up on this Monday, we wake up to an additional four inches of snow!


While we've had traces of snow on Christmas Day as recently as last year, the last time there was more than an inch of snow on the ground in Portland on Christmas was back in 1937. So, we may be headed for our first truly white Christmas in quite some time! This is the most snow we've ever had in Portland at one time in my lifetime, as I think the previous record was back in the late 90s when we had roughly a foot of snow, an amount that has surely been surpassed by now.


All the above pictures were from the icy day yesterday, with the exception of this last one. This shows the approximate snow accumulation as of 11:00 AM on Monday....although with some of the winds on the first day of snow, I'm sure it's even a few inches more.

Birds in the Snow

With all this winter weather my wildlife watching has been restricted to the bird feeders just outside, but that doesn't mean the viewing hasn't been spectacular. Yesterday I spent some time in my parents' front yard, where many birds overcame their typical shyness of people in favor of some unfrozen seed to help keep them warm for the night. Remember to feed the birds near you - they need help to get through this subfreezing weather! I have no idea how the little overwintering Anna's hummingbirds make it through this stuff. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from yesterday. From top to bottom, a red-breasted nuthatch, a black-capped chickadee, and a dark-eyed junco.

Snowy Trip to Portland

I wasn't quite planning to head down to Portland for Christmas just yet, but seeing a slight break between the winter storms yesterday I made a dash for it. The drive was not fun, but stressful - for the first part of the drive many of the roads were still icy, and near the end of the drive I got caught in a snow storm - but I am relieved I made it! It was the right decision, too, as today we woke up to 4+ inches of snow here in Portland, it is still snowing, and the forecast is for freezing rain tomorrow. And, for the part of the drive where it was light out, the scenery was absolutely beautiful.

I took this picture from the ferry, looking at the snow-dusted islands just outside of Anacortes.

When traffic was slow, I took the chance to take a few photos out the window of my car. This is along Highway 20 between Anacortes and I5.

By the time the sun was setting I had finally made it to I5, but for about 10 miles the freeway was completely icy and it was slow going at about 15 mph. You can see a misty fog over the ground in this photo. I was worried it would get foggy, but luckily it never did.

Feeder Footsteps

The bird feeder has been a bustling center of activity during these below-freezing days, and the light blanket snow captures impressions of the comings and goings of juncos, sparrows, chickadees, and nuthatches.

The closer you get to the feeder, the more intense the frenzy becomes:

I took some time this afternoon just to sit and watch the activity, as there is a constant coming and going of all species throughout the day. There's a lot of dominance hierarchies that work themselves out, both between and within species. In general, the larger species get right of way, with a fox sparrow or song sparrow often parking themselves in the middle of the seed tray and refusing to budge or share with anyone. The chickadees prefer the suet feeder, and will occasionally jump down to the tray to grab as sunflower seed whenever there is a brief absence of any other birds. The juncos are happy to feed on the ground, so I spread some extra seed down there, but the more dominant birds in the flock will share the tray feeder when the sparrows aren't hogging it.

Six Random Facts Meme

Vickie Henderson tagged me for the Six Random Facts meme. If you've never heard of a meme, you can learn what they are here. I've done memes before, but not on this blog since I wanted to keep it focused on nature and photography. However, as I've become more engrossed in the blogging community, I always enjoy getting a glimpse of the person behind the blog, especially when from their content I can tell we have a lot in common. It lets you learn a little about the storyteller, instead of just always listening to the story. So, here we go....

1) I am a huge hockey fan. This isn't a big secret, but a lesser known fact is that I'm finally living my dream of playing the game....as a goalie. I've always been enamored with what is known as one of the craziest positions in sports, and with the friendly atmosphere of the local roller hockey pick-up games, I decided to get a set of gear off eBay, and give it a shot! So far, it's been a huge success - I've had a blast, and everyone is happy to have a real goalie to shoot at instead of the plywood they've been putting in net. Yeah, that's me in the picture below!


2) You may have gleaned this from a previous post, but for a couple years in middle/high school I dyed my hair various shades of blue, green, and purple. If you knew me as the quiet, reserved child that I was, you would have thought I was one of the least likely candidates ever to do something wild and crazy like dye my hair. It was unlikely, but whatever it was that got into me to dye my hair in the first place never left. With those first blue and green streaks, the new Monika was revealed, and the shy and quiet little girl was gone. Ever since then, I have been more self-confident, quirky, and outgoing, and people have seen the real, you-never-know-what-she's-going-to-do-next Monika. I honestly pinpoint that moment as the one where I came out of my shell. The whole experience also humbled me when I realized how different you are treated - not only by strangers, but by friends and family as well - when something as superficial as hair color is "different". See the photo under 4, below.

3) Orca Encounters wasn't actually my first book. I've always been a worry wart, and when I was eight I wrote and illustrated a children's book about how to conquer your worries and fears that my family self-published. The book, Cynthia and the Web That Worried Her, sold a few copies and was a finalist in the National Written and Illustrated By... contest for books written by and for children.



4) For two and a half years, I owned and trained a young Kiger mustang named Milo. It was challenging to say the least, as I finally found a stubborn streak that matches my own, but it was also one of the most educational. I learned a lot about myself and about animal communication. One of the hardest decisions I had to make was to sell Milo when I just didn't have the time for him while going to college. I still regret it at times, but after a four year break I've just gotten back involved with horses while helping to retrain a rescue horse here on island.


5) I am terribly afraid of flying. While I do, with enough coaxing and drug-induced relaxation, fly when I have to, it is by no means a fun experience for anyone involved. This is one thing I definitely want to work on, because many of the places I want to visit (most of them for the sake of viewing wildlife) will require me to fly. I did manage to fly across the country once earlier this year, and despite my fears, still had my camera in hand to capture the beautiful sunset:


6) Like for many other whale-lovers, my first experience with orcas was at Sea World San Diego. It was apparent from early on, though, that my fascination was deeper than for most, as when I was 12 or 13 my mom dropped me off in the morning when Sea World opened and I spent the entire day sitting next to the orca tanks, observing the behavior of the whales inbetween their shows. I got my first chance to see wild killer whales on a family vacation to Alaska in 1998, and from that point, there was no going back. It was after that trip, while researching the closest possible place to Portland, OR where you could see killer whales, that my family rediscovered the San Juan Islands, where we had been on a family trip in 1990. I've been coming back to the San Juans every year since then, staying longer and longer every summer until, this year, I will for the first time be staying here year round.


Here are the rules to the Six Random Facts Meme:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Write six random things about yourself.
4) Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5) Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

My tags are:
Jeanne at Whale of a Porpoise
Jason at Nature, Kayak, and Travel
Peggy Sue at On San Juan Island
Dave at Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Photography
Adventures in Nature
and Max at The Apartment Biologist

They're all blogs I encourage you to check out, and you can now easily keep track of them with my new blog rolls on the right!

New Winter Visitors

The snow has encouraged some otherwise shy species to venture forth to my bird feeders. This morning, a spotted towhee was hanging out for quite a while. These birds are usually so shy that I at first wondered if something might be wrong with him, because he didn't seem skittish at all! I still often find myself referring to this bird by its older name, rufous-sided towhee. By looking at this picture you can see why:

This next picture, though slightly out of focus, made me laugh. I was laying down on the floor with the camera resting on the edge of the door so I could be on his level as he stomped through the snow:


The other unexpected visitor was a fox sparrow. Several things tipped me off that this wasn't my similar-looking song sparrow visitor. First of all, it immediately struck me as larger, and indeed the fox sparrow is about 7 inches long compared to 5 1/2 for the song sparrow. Also, the chest streaking is much more triangular, with the spots looking like upward pointing arrows on the fox sparrow. The fox sparrow also lacks the distinct central breast dot, although sometimes the streaking does converge into a central smear. Finally, to confirm my identification, notice the yellow lower mandible of this sparrow's beak. Song sparows have much grayer beaks.

Snow!

I was skeptical, but the snow did arrive late last night. We got maybe an inch and a half, and the temperature stayed in the mid-20s so whatever did accumulate was still around this morning. The island is truly beautiful in the snow. Here's a picture I took looking across at Brown Island. One of my favorite things about snow is how the trees look, all their limbs dusted in white powder.
Mt. Baker also got a fresh blanket of snow, and was visible during a sun break this afternoon. You can see the islands in the foreground all got a bit of snow too. As always, you can click on the images for a larger view, although the picture of Mt. Baker doesn't really do it justice.

Unfortunately, not everything is as wonderous and pristine as the quietly falling snow - I'm suffering from a cold, the roads are icy, and my car isn't great on wintery roads, so I was restricted to taking just a short foray around the neighborhood rather than checking out other parts of the island. To see some beautiful pictures of Lime Kiln Lighthouse in today's snow, check out my friend Jason's blog post from today. Also, our plumbing system is mostly above-ground, so our pipes our frozen and we have no running water! We've definitely hit winter, distinct by its beautifully harsh conditions!