Snowy estuary

Well we attempted doing a count today.

that is what the estuary looks like right now from Morris Valley Road where there is only one spot where you can pull off the road so rather difficult to see anything, especially with snow banks all along the edge, so it was a surprise...

to find this Wilson's Snipe....had to climb half way up the bank and sort of lean over it to get the photo....we actually got a glimpse of a second one as well.  Speaking of 'glimpses' there were 4 Pine Siskin on the road...eating seeds or salt, not sure which.

there weren't a lot of Bald Eagles visible but this guy was right down there and notice it has a leg band.

Next we drove down to the Harrison Bridge to see what was out on the river in front of the golf course....

again we were having to view over snow banks.

there were quite a few sleepy Canadian Geese down on the shore. 

hundreds if not thousands of assorted waterfowl out there, unfortunately just not possible to actually view and count them all.

Attempted to get down  into Eagle Point park but that was impossible too, so back home....

where again there is just no way to get over to the park right now unless you have snow shoes, which we don't, and even if one did the trail by the first bay would be impassable because of all the bushes being weighed down.

there was one Great Blue Heron out there...that was about it.

Now for the real frustration....99.9% of the time when I venture out of my door I have a camera with me.  Today, just once I didn't, I was just going to our laundromat to put a load of wash in a dryer and was a few minutes early so wandered around outside waiting for the time to be up....spotted 3 birds on the road....walked closer and they were....

Cassin's Finch!  Of course the above picture wasn't taken today but 14 or 15 years ago which was the only other time I have ever seen this species here.  It was a winter with conditions much like we have right now.  My big hope is that they will hang around and I'll be able to get some current photos.