December 23 - Sucker Hole

A “Sucker Hole” is the term that we Northwesterners use to describe that little patch of blue sky that lures a person outside, only to have the brief spate of sunshine disappear in an instant and the Heavens open up.  A ‘true’ Sucker Hole is big enough to get you at least a ¼-mile from your vehicle, so that you are well and truly soaked by the time you get back . . .

Blue Sky?!! Let's go birding . . . .

So, there was a nice half-hour of sunshine around 11 a.m., and I decided to go down to the Grass Lake Nature Park.  The City of Olympia acquired the 171-acre property in 1989, after local citizens rebelled against a developer who proposed a large subdivision.  When forced to abide by the State Shorelines Act, after claiming that the lake wasn’t protected – “it’s just a swamp…”, it wasn’t worth it for them to subdivide, and they sold it to the city for $1.8 million.  Not bad to preserve this little gem.

I arrived just as it began to sprinkle again, so I cut into the woods to stay out of the worst of it.

Nice little patch of second-growth Douglas-fir

As I continued, the rain increased, and then turned to 1/8-inch hail before going back to a steady light rain.

Might rain . . . after the hail stops . . .

The forest surrounding the ‘lake’ appears to be about 30-60 years old, and the ‘second-growth’ woods provide habitat for the common forest birds - the workings on this Douglas fir snag attest to the presence of Pileated Woodpeckers

Pileated Woodpeckers excavate rectangular-shaped holes

Since it was raining, the birds were holding tight to their cover, but there are other things to see in western Washington in the rain.  In the park is the “Elephant’s Graveyard” - this is an old Geocaching site, with the name inspired by the horde of cattle bones that were dumped many years ago, obviously from a butchering operation

The Elephant's Graveyard

This time of year, the “fairy fingers” can be found on the forest floor.  Their generic name Clavaria comes from the Latin clava, meaning a club.  Equally obvious, and again from Latin, is the specific epithet fragilis, which means fragile. These worm-like eruptions are very brittle and they usually snap into pieces if you try to bend them.

Fairy Fingers - Clavaria fragilis

In between showers, a few birds came out.  Amongst a mixed-feeding-flock of chickadees and kinglets was this little lady

Ruby-crowned Kinglet foraging through the Scots' Broom

I returned to the car, dripping wet, but - the worst day birding is better than the best day sitting on your butt watching it rain through the window.

Grass Lake eBird Checklist is Here