Middle Creek WMA: Snow Geese and Frogs

A number of years ago now, we visited Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania to see the Snow Geese Migration. We've always talked of going back, but it just hadn't worked out until last weekend. There weren't as many geese this time and there were only a few Tundra Swans, but we were also a little bit later in the season. Peak migration was a few weeks ago. In spite of that, we still had a great day and saw lots of birds:

 Snow Geese coming in for a landing

 Hanging out on shore

 Something spooked them and a whole bunch of them took off from the water at once. The sound of all of their wings beating was impressive.

 Graceful landing

 Another one coming in to land.

 All lined up

 Even though there were fewer geese than the last time we were there, there were still a lot of geese.

I was trying to take pictures of Tundra Swans that were really too far away to photograph, when this little Belted Kingfisher got my attention. It was a noisy little thing, but was happy to sit there and let me take pictures (click to enlarge).

 Two ducks feeding on the lake.

 Snow geese moving en masse

 We drove the road around the WMA, which took us by a little wet spot that was full of Wood Frogs and their egg masses. The frogs themselves were really vocal and love was in the air. You can hear a brief recording of their calls here (scroll down on the right)

 A couple of frogs on the egg masses.

 Snow geese on the water later in the day.

A juvenile Bald Eagle.

Washington State: Hiking and Snowshoeing

I had to go to the Seattle area for work last week. We have friends who live south of the city, so I went out early and got some hiking in. We started with Lena Lake in Olympic National Forest on Saturday. The forecast was pretty typical for March in the Pacific Northwest, so I was prepared to hike all afternoon in the rain. Having all of my rain gear with me resulted in a beautiful, mostly sunny afternoon. You can't beat that. I also credit the forecast for keeping the crowds away. We saw very few people on a trail that, according to my friend, is pretty popular.

 A cool, bent tree along the trail.

 An orange slime mold.

 The night before, it had rained pretty hard at my friends' place. It had clearly snowed higher up.

 An impressive bridge on the trail.

 Reaching the snowline

 A waterfall on a small creek.

 A sign pointing us towards the lake.

 Lena Lake.

 On the way home we stopped for dinner. The sunset over Hood Canal was spectacular.

On Sunday, we went snowshoeing at White Pass Ski Area. The nordic center has cross-country ski and snowshoe trails.

 Starting out around a little lake.

 Michael's snowshoes pack flatter than mine in a suitcase, so I took his with me. Now his snowshoes have hiked in Washington.

 The trail took us back to a little waterfall, where we had lunch.

 This Canada Jay tried to convince me to give up my snack bag. Nice try, little guy.

 This is where old trekking and ski poles find a new life. Most of the snowshoeing trail markers were held up by old poles.

 Heading back to the start.

Looking back on the lake near where we started.