NFR Frogs are back!
- Thread starter RCF
- Start date
Non-fishing related
Mosquitos are out too, got bit going to the hot tub last night. The daffodils are about 4" tall. This warm period is pretty normal for us, first week of February is historically flood week, and the streams are running pretty good now. Then it gets cold again later in the month through early march. I can tell it's an warm winter though, temps at Bluewood have been above freezing.
FinLuver
Native Oregonian…1846
That’ll learn ya to robe up for the trek to the hot tub.
The stories the neighbors could tell.
I’m unconvinced that the recent meteorological prediction from a certain chubby rodent in Punxsutawney, PA is relevant to weather forecasting in the PNW. I prefer to use my own eyes and the local flora and fauna to reveal the progress of the seasons.
And here, we have experience what a huge difference a few weeks makes. In mid-January, we endured several days in which the night-time temperatures dropped to the low teens and there was a threat of snow (and ice), which did hit hard south of us through Portland and the Willamette Valley. And even when the temperatures rose, the weather was continuous drizzle and fog. I was feeling really confined to the house and was constantly checking the NWS radar for a gap in the drizzle to go for a walk. To mitigate the "winter blue", I squeezed in a solo trip to Ridgefield NWR where the ponds and canals were still mostly frozen and there were small piles of plowed snow still by the roadsides. The ducks and geese were ice-skating.
Even after the cold-spell abated, the drizzle continued for several days. And even when it wasn’t raining, it was dark and foggy at midday. The world was very monochromatic.
Feeling a bit stir-crazy and confined to the house, I was willing to head out birding/photographing, locally at least, even on smallest, marginal windows in the weather radar. And that meant getting drizzled occasionally.
But the signs of spring are becoming quite evident as reflected by the fauna and the flora.
Fauna: On one recent 50-degree day, I spotted a bat flying over the L-shaped pond by the visitor center at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge [if you think trying to catch a picture of a kinglet or warbler in action is tough, try a flying bat…]. Apparently, it emerged from hibernation to take advantage of the sunny, warm day to feast on chironomids that were emerging from the pond.
And on several trips, pond sliders have also emerged from their winter slumbers to be seen out sunning themselves on logs around the edge of the pond.
And the first bullfrogs have appeared in the canals that parallel the Twin Barns trail. While the resident tree frogs that will call while hidden in the piles of leaves, the bullfrogs aren't calling yet.
Flora: All around the buds are swelling. The buds on the Indian plum have actually broken and are sending out leaves.
Can the first salmonberry flowers be far behind? And the Western skunk cabbages are already sending up new leaves from their buried rhizomes. Here is to an early spring!!!
Steve
And here, we have experience what a huge difference a few weeks makes. In mid-January, we endured several days in which the night-time temperatures dropped to the low teens and there was a threat of snow (and ice), which did hit hard south of us through Portland and the Willamette Valley. And even when the temperatures rose, the weather was continuous drizzle and fog. I was feeling really confined to the house and was constantly checking the NWS radar for a gap in the drizzle to go for a walk. To mitigate the "winter blue", I squeezed in a solo trip to Ridgefield NWR where the ponds and canals were still mostly frozen and there were small piles of plowed snow still by the roadsides. The ducks and geese were ice-skating.
Even after the cold-spell abated, the drizzle continued for several days. And even when it wasn’t raining, it was dark and foggy at midday. The world was very monochromatic.
Feeling a bit stir-crazy and confined to the house, I was willing to head out birding/photographing, locally at least, even on smallest, marginal windows in the weather radar. And that meant getting drizzled occasionally.
But the signs of spring are becoming quite evident as reflected by the fauna and the flora.
Fauna: On one recent 50-degree day, I spotted a bat flying over the L-shaped pond by the visitor center at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge [if you think trying to catch a picture of a kinglet or warbler in action is tough, try a flying bat…]. Apparently, it emerged from hibernation to take advantage of the sunny, warm day to feast on chironomids that were emerging from the pond.
And on several trips, pond sliders have also emerged from their winter slumbers to be seen out sunning themselves on logs around the edge of the pond.
And the first bullfrogs have appeared in the canals that parallel the Twin Barns trail. While the resident tree frogs that will call while hidden in the piles of leaves, the bullfrogs aren't calling yet.
Flora: All around the buds are swelling. The buds on the Indian plum have actually broken and are sending out leaves.
Can the first salmonberry flowers be far behind? And the Western skunk cabbages are already sending up new leaves from their buried rhizomes. Here is to an early spring!!!
Steve
joefromchicago
Steelhead
Wow! Those bat pictures are so cool. Seen a lot of things on the water in my time but that's the first. Thanks for sharing.
