Mickey Raine sent the photos above and the following report from his venture to Mill Creek Marsh yesterday. Cause for optimism!

Mill Creek Marsh Trail was quite beautiful to walk today, for the definite signs of the real winter conditions have arrived. The haunting ancient cedar stumps during near low tide were very interesting with the way in which the frozen water and ice played off of them.

The extensive amount of ice cover prevented many of the water fowl from swimming about, but we were absolutely delighted when Elaine, who was on one of her rolls, kept finding these Praying Mantis egg casings, Cecropia Moth cocoons, and this huge odd cocoon of at least 5 inches in length. In total, we must have seen about 15 or 16 of these, giving us such great hopes for a wonderful spring of new arrivals.

Along the creek near the first part of the path stood the resident Great Blue Heron, and with the perfect time of day, the sun’s warm rays would truly amplify the stunning beauty of this large, graceful bird.