Life on the Outer Coast

We have had about 6 inches of snow on the ground. Most of it fell Sunday night and Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday have been mostly clear and cold. Fortunately kept the water flowing from the lake this time, so can do laundry without worrying about running out of water.

Monday morning the mink tracks started at the far edge of the front porch and continued down the boardwalk. Another set of tracks went off toward the greenhouse. I didn't have time to look at the rest of the garden. The boardwalk set seemed to mostly favor one side of the boardwalk, occasionally cross the other side and continue. The mink would also periodically leave the boardwalk altogether, then return a few feet later. The one side pattern continued on the dock. The tracks stayed close to the edge of the approach and ramp, crossed the dock, went along the dock very close to the bullrail, crossed to the other side and continued. I'm not sure who eats mink in the neighborhood.
Most of the tracks are in groups of three, but tonight there were tracks in pairs. Tonight the boardwalk near the house is pretty much covered with human and mink tracks. Kind of looks like a mink highway. So far, they haven't found a way into the insulation (it is supposed to be covered with plywood). I'm crossing my fingers.
Both Tuesday and Wednesday late afternoon I walked up Indian river trail. The first day I started early enough to make it to the elevated boardwalk before the first bridge before dark, today just went to the cascades. The trail is pretty well traveled, but most people are gone by mid afternoon. The scarcity of other hikers is kind of pleasant when there is snow. The quiet is exceptionally nice. Mostly, I don't mind sharing the trail, but it is alot easier to listen for birds when alone. Not that there was alot of birds to hear. Each day I heard a winter wren or two, it was kind of late in the day though. Today just at the large notched tree up from the cross trail cut off, I heard a western screech owl. It was making some particularly odd sounds, I wasn't sure that it was a weso, the sounds were so strange. Then after a few series of notes (?), it sounded a bit more familiar. It was in a red alder between the trail and the river. It was impressively loud and close. It was my first owl this fall. I thought I might have heard one on Monday in the alders above the lake on the island, but it was faint and not repeated.
Neglected to mention how nice the moonlight was coming through the trees. I had my headlamp on, but only used it in the darkest part of the trail because of the light provided by the moon and reflected by the snow. The moon looked a bit bigger than half (it's full on Christmas eve) and was making irregular looking pools of yellowish light in the snow. The view of the moon from the first muskeg it was rather striking, it was just off directly over Arrowhead.
The few birds I've seen on the island in the morning have been a flock of siskins, a couple of juncos and winter wrens in the commons. The commute has been really quiet lately.