Diario de swampgirl123

Hiked out to the North End today. Beautiful overcast skies, deep dark blue/gray clouds against a white sky. The temperature had warmed up and frozen again overnight, so there was a crispy layer of frozen ice on the snow, my snowshoes breaking this loud crust and sending ice shards across the ice. I saw some scat on the way in, it looked like it could be a fox. I got to the trailhead. There's a fair amount of American Red Squirrels in the forest. As I walked out to set out the nets, I enjoyed the sounds of a small flock of Common redpolls.
On the way back to the cabin, I noticed (for the first time) large carnivoran footprints in the snow! They looked so extremely large!
Spooky.
Other evidence of a porcupine actively using the back shed, and had probably just left as I approached. Another mammal in the wall.

January 4th, 2022

It was a cold and overcast day as I pulled my vehicle through, approaching the North End entrance. I was humbled amidst what I can only describe as the most snow I had ever seen. The immense marsh cells stretch far out into the distance to our left. Herbaceous reeds poke out from the deep windswept snow, with more significant snags reaching up from the buried pools. A ditch creates a moat between the raised berm and the pockets of dense forest and mixed shrubbery to our right. Poplar, Alder, Cedar, Tamarack and Pine. We trudged through the snow, sinking an inch or so into the fluffy powder.
As we approached the end of the berm, we were fortunate enough to see a single stoic Canada Jay perched at the top of a pine. While at the cabin, we set up the nets and lit a fire, warming up to settle in for an afternoon of capturing black-capped chickadees. I banded my first Hairy Woodpecker, and it was invigorating. After we packed up and headed out, a few Ruffed Grouse flushed over the fresh trail we pressed into the snow.