We celebrated Memorial Day Weekend by taking a short trip (but definitely the longest trip since my dental appointment two months ago) to Theler Wetlands in Belfair. At first the trip made me a little sad because it was impossible to ignore the huge changes since we had been here before the lockdown.
My spirits were lifted, though, by spotting my first Cedar Waxwing of the year
even if it was reticent to have its picture taken.
Spotting this young weasel (mink?) on the bridge was definitely the highlight of the morning.
This is not the first time I’ve spotted them at Theler, but they usually spot you and instantly disappear into the foliage.
This one, on the other hand, seemed nearly as curious about me as I was about it,
leading me to believe that it was probably a young weasel.
We didn’t see any other mammals but did spot several varieties of birds, including this European Collared Dove,
this Red-Shafted Northern Flicker,
and this small flock of male Common Mergansers a long ways out near the mouth of the river.
Normally I would associate the head tilt with some sort of mating display, but since there were no females in sight I couldn’t figure out what they were doing. Perhaps they were responding to the Canada Goose that seemed to be telling them to shove off because this beach was already spoken for.