Kukutali Preserve — Saturday, Mar. 3, 2018

This is a quiet, pretty but small preserve. It has a nice variety of trees, pleasant views, fun beach to walk on and a good variety of birds to see and listen to. The tide was low this morning so walking on the beach was easy. The tide pools didn't have much to offer so that was a little bit disappointing. There is a lot of driftwood and rocks to look at on the beach. On the south trail I saw several light pink currant bushes blooming. Is that possible? Maybe they were a winter species. What I enjoyed the most was watching the birds. There were plenty of eagles flying around. Two eagles were on the shoreline enjoying a large, newly caught fish for lunch. A couple of crows were foolish enough to think that the eagles were going to share their delicious meal. Not so! At one point there were 4 eagles protecting their catch against invaders. It was fun to watch. In addition to the eagles, there were ducks, other seabirds and song birds. It was nice to enjoy the variety of birds on such a small piece of land. I see so few birds when I'm hiking on mountain trails. I suggest combining this walk with a nearby trail on the same day to extend your fun. I suspect this preserve is very busy during the summer. Few people were there when I arrived around at 8:45. More folks were arriving as I was leaving in the late morning.