WTD#23 - Fine Winter Days

We've been confining our excursions to skiing on the rail trail and walking near Selkirk College lately, but managing to get out pretty well every day.  The weather has been mild - some sunny days, some cloudy - but overall very pleasant for January.

On a beautiful clear day, the oxbow by Selkirk College is a mirror for the cottonwoods growing along the shore.

A bit more of the same.

We disturbed a gaggle of a dozen or so Canada geese the other day, also near the oxbow on the Kootenay River.

A bald eagle was perched on a cottonwood tree on the island formed by the river and the oxbow.

The play of light on the river has been unbelievable lately.  It must have to do with the quality of  the winter sky.

The word 'quicksilver' comes to mind.

There are a lot of ducks in the area of the Kootenay-Columbia confluence - mostly buffleheads (like this male) and both common and Barrow's goldeneyes, with the odd merganser around as well.

This is a female bufflehead.

The male common goldeneye has a circular white patch on the cheek.

The male Barrow's goldeneye has a teardrop-shaped patch on the cheek.

The female common goldeneye has a brown head and a dark beak with a yellow or orange tip.

The female Barrow's also has a brown head, but it's beak is yellow or orange.

I've been told that these are seedheads of clematis growing along the Selkirk trail.  I've made a mental note to go back in the spring when the flowers are blooming.

I stopped along the road in Thrums to get a few shots of the frost on the trees, left from the overnight fog.


More frosty trees, Skattebo Reach in the background.

Slocan River by the rail trail.

Reflections in a backchannel pool.

Seedheads of a plant I have not yet identified.

More pool reflections.

A goldeneye stretching his wings in the sunset refected on the river.

Mergansers heading upriver.

Late afternoon sun on the mountains.

Another glorious day on the trail.

"Hey, wait up you guys!"

WTD#22 - A New Year

Suddenly the holidays are a distant memory, it is mid-January and the days are getting longer.  We have been blessed with a mild winter (so far) and some beautiful sunny days in the past few weeks.  Before all the snow came Dawg and I did one last hike in the Brilliant Terrace area, above Veregin's Tomb.

It seems that no matter the time of year or weather, there is beauty to be found, as in this cluster of maple seeds in the sunlight.

This is the bud of a cottonwood sapling, waiting for the warmth of spring to burst open.

Ponderosa Pine bark glowing in the sunlight.

Once the snow arrived we shifted into our routine of skiing, almost daily, on the Slocan Rail Trail.

One late afternoon we noticed a flock of almost twenty wild turkeys traversing a snowy slope above the trail.

Then, one by one, they flew up into the crown of a Douglas Fir tree to roost for the night.

I am always impressed when I see these big birds flying - it seems to defy the laws of physics.

Flying into the sunset.

The colours in the river are pretty spectacular these days.  This is the "whirlpool", near Kosiancic farm.

Some sunset reflections - same spot.

Etc.

Etc.

Looking north from the same spot.

Facing north, along a back-channel of the river.

Cottonwood skyline

Reflections in a pool in the back-channel

Cottonwoods illuminated by the afternoon sun.   What a joy to be out here on a beautiful winter's day, hey Pup?

"Why are we stopping again?"