Snow at Lonesome Duck!!

When we went to bed at nearly 11pm the wind was howling but the snow had not started. However, when we awoke this was the Williamson River in front of our cabin:

Here's how the other side of our cabin looked. That's a Blue Elder covered with snow. A high desert species, which like others, can look rather artsy if tended.

That's 7 3/4 inches of the beautiful, and in the case around here, badly needed crystalline water. How did I know we received that much snow? Take a look here:

Actually, I took a yardstick and measured the snow on the open deck of one of the cabins. As you can see there was other evidence of a very nice snowfall.

 It's pretty obvious the wind stopped fairly soon after the snow started. The next picture shows how the snow was balanced on even the smallest of our cherry tree's branches, and it wasn't sticky but light and fluffy.

 Notice above that the Williamson River is wide open. It contains a large amount of spring water so it takes consistent very low temperatures (below zero F) to freeze it at the Lonesome Duck and yet the riffles do not freeze even then. As usual, when it snows, the temperatures stay rather mild. It dropped to 30F and stayed there most of the night. We are still under the effects of the Pacific air mass even on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. It doesn't get to below zero very often until you get over the Fremont Mountains, immediately to the east of us.

The snow and cold, it's supposed to drop to the low 20's F tonight, does effect the behavior of the animals. More waterfowl are forced to the open waters of the Williamson; we saw more Buffleheads and Common Goldeneyes today than we have seen since the colder spells in January. The smaller birds were very active around our feeders, especially Pine Siskins, Juncos, and Lesser Goldfinch with a large flock of Evening Grosbeaks spending some time here. Here are some of the Evening Grosbeaks which we can get anytime of year due to the proximity of the mountains around us:

We can also get Red Crossbills, mostly in winter, but they will fly over the Klamath Basin anytime of the year to get to the mountains surrounding us. We had some fly over the ranch a few days ago but they have not stopped by for a snack lately.

Here's some more Evening Grosbeaks with a Steller's Jay. This is our common yard jay year round. Some of the locals call them blue jays, perhaps not knowing of the blue and white Blue Jay east of the Rockies.

Other birds around the feeders the past couple of days are chickadees (usually Mountain), Pygmy Nuthatches, and House Finch. We often have Cassin's and Purple Finches but none within the past 48 hours. A Townsend's Solitaire was near the cabins; they are usually close by except in the middle of the summer when the spend their time in the mountains above us.

Suzie and I decided to take advantage of the snow and get some exercise by cross-country skiing today. It might be our last chance of the season but there is a chance of a refreshing about Friday. We almost waited too long. Sublimation and strong sun with the temperature up to 41F had quickly reduced the snow to only 2-3 inches in the pastures. We made it however, and did get to see more diving ducks, an unidentified eagle soaring high over Modoc Rim, and a couple other signs of spring that just showed up in the last week or so, a Spotted Towhee and a single Tree Swallow.

And, I almost forgot, a usually crepuscular to nocturnal Muskrat was swimming in front of our cabin mid-morning. A little later at least two River Otters stopped in the middle of the river in front of the River's Edge cabin next door to dive for the very large crayfish found there. You can see the Otters come up holding their mouths up, crunching away, trying not to spill the crunchy pieces out of their mouths. I said at least two Otters because the high metabolic critters are hard to count while diving in water.