This afternoon, after the day had warmed up to 43 degrees (after starting at 8 degrees), we put on our boots and gaiters and took the dog for a walk in the greenbelt. At Bear Creek we saw a couple of muskrats:

Yesterday was sunny with temperatures in the low 70s. This morning it’s snowing, with several inches expected, and the temperature is not forecast to break freezing until Thursday.

Three coyotes showed up in the field behind our house this morning. Here are two:

The coyote standing ran off. Then a Magpie landed near the coyote lying down. Here’s a picture right before the Magpie tried snatching some of the coyote’s fur:

Spotted while we were walking the dog in the Bear Creek Greenbelt:

The Great Blue Heron frequenting Bear Creek:

This morning the howling wind woke us both up at 3:00 a.m. A few hours later, the wind still gusting and the skies gray, the temperature at 40 degrees, we walked the dog in the Bear Creek Greenbelt. We saw a muskrat and a beaver at Bear Creek. Here’s the latter:

Farther west, we saw the Great Blue Heron again:

Late this afternoon we took the dog for a walk in the Bear Creek Greenbelt. We saw this Great Blue Heron:

There were several Mallards, including this one:

And this Magpie landed surprisingly close to me:

Earlier in the week, on Columbus Day, we were walking the dog on a bridge across Bear Creek before dawn when we spotted two beavers. One beaver hauled itself out of the water, walked across the dam it had built, and swam under the bridge to very shallow water. I didn’t have my camera with me.

Finally, earlier today, my better half and I were finishing mountain biking the three-hour “big loop” at Buffalo Creek when we spotted a melanistic Abert’s squirrel with a pine cone in its mouth. Again, no camera!

Back to Golden Gate Canyon State Park, this time with a friend. We started at Panorama Point:

Then we hiked the Snowshoe Hare Trail. Some snow was on the ground–not much. In bird life, we saw crows, two hawks (one was certainly a Red-tailed Hawk, and the other may have been, as well), lots of Mountain Chickadees, a few Red-breasted Nuthatches, and a pair of Clark’s Nutcrakers. The temperature was 29 degrees at the start, 57 degrees at the finish, and we hiked perhaps five miles, all told.

Bushtits and White-breasted Nuthatches are frequenting our back yard again. Here’s one of the former: