My walks have been quite chilly lately with temperatures around freezing.  Several days ago there was a heavy frost with some fall of ice pellets, and as often happens here after such weather, it became clear and cold with the frost and ice remaining even though it has been sunny.  The frozen gravel cracks under my feet like popcorn and the frozen leaves sound like brittle cellophane.  The little valley that I walk through to the beach is almost constantly shaded and acts as a conduit for the cold air as it flows down it to the Sound.  The water of the Sound is in the lower forties and as the air rises over the warmer water it draws the air down the little valley.  So when I walk down the road to the water, I don’t feel the cold so much, but when I walk back, I am walking against the cold flow of air and my ears and chin get very cold.

I like to look closely at the hoarfrost that covers the leaves, admiring the intricate patterns of the ice crystals.  Sometimes during particularly heavy frosts, the crystals of ice pushes the soil up into little mounds and later after it melts the soil remains soft and springy.  The little brook seems unaffected by the cold, splashing and gurgling along, talking to me and keeping me company as I walk down the shaded road to the beach.

Yesterday as I stood on the little bluff overlooking the water, I saw a sea lion, methodically swimming its way south, rising and falling, its breath throwing little sprays of water into the air.  The birds are all my old friends: Common Mergansers, Horned Grebes, Double Crested Cormorants, a lone Bald Eagle, anonymous gulls, Cassin’s Auklet, Winter Wrens, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Stellar Jays, Juncos, Chestnut sided Chickadees, Varied Thrushes (not calling yet), and numerous Song Sparrows whose hormones seemed to have been stirred by the lengthening days and who sing from every suitable vantage point.  I also saw two different unidentified ducks.  One looked just like a Bufflehead, but seemed much larger than these petite little ducks with a larger amount of white on the head.  Another looked very familiar to me and had a reddish head.  Winter plumage can be confusing sometimes!