Nature Walk ~ Bald Eagle Spotting

On our nature walk this week we were treated to a spectacular show of bald headed eagles :) We have a network of trails that wind up the mountain behind our house and to our bottom field and it was down there that we came across a good half dozen of them.

A few of them were skittish and flew away but the others that remained eyed us curiously from their tree top perches. I would have loved to have gotten a little closer for a better photo as these ones are a little grainy but my little guy was so busy stomping tracks into the snow that I didn't dare go any further into their comfort zone *grin*.

Speaking of tracks we found these great bird tracks!

Now I'm not certain if these were from the eagles but we found them nearby and they look like the tail feathers of a large bird as it sat in the snow. I should have put my hand or shoe by them as they really were quite big. I have never found anything like this before so it was so neat to share it with the children :)

We hung around as long as we could before we became to cold to stay an longer but we got to see a few of them soaring back and forth between different trees and even a few juveniles that joined the older eagles. I wish I could have stayed much longer just admiring their grace and beauty. A true winter treat :)

Hugs,
Rosina

If you go out in the woods today....

All this snow is starting to drive us all a little stir crazy so yesterday we just had to get out and do a little hiking in the forest *grin*. Our first stop was at my all time favorite trail that takes us down along the estuary but as soon as we had all piled out of the truck and got our packs on we realized that there was a big warning sign posted at the trail head. There had been a cougar and fresh kill spotted on the trail less than a week ago so they were warning hikers of the potential danger :( So disappointing but not worth the risk. Cougars tend to prey on the smaller members of your party and with M barely 3, who tends to stray and lag behind we thought it best to steer clear for a while, especially since we don't have a dog to draw the cougar's hunger away from the children. An awful thought but it has happened quite a few times here where the family pet has saved the lives of children playing nearby when an attack happens.



So with our hopes of a winter walk dashed a bit we decided to head further out of town to another great little hike amongst the 2nd growth trees growing along the Dalrymple creek. So far so good! No warning signs so we headed into the trees :) Hubby was a little on edge after the first trail but the kids were all gung ho for some fungus hunting. We found tons of shelf fungus and different mosses to amuse ourselves with until.....

we came across some very fresh animal tracks!!! About 15 minutes into our hike we found tracks. They definitely weren't dog tracks from another hiker since there were no signs of any other human footprints and not to far back we had also found parts of the trail that had been disturbed and dug up recently by an animal. It was time to cut our hike short and retreat quickly before whatever left that tracks came back.

I guess we'll have to wait a bit before we attempt to go hiking again until the snow melts and the cougars and their prey can move further up the mountains again for the spring/summer months. Maybe we'll head to the beach next time *grin*.

~ Rosina