Polebridge (and all of Glacier, for that matter) dipped down to below zero over the past few days, including a reading of nine below last night. Nine below! Here's the problem, September was so warm, that the trees didn't really didn't turn. Many of them were still green when this cold snap hit. Now they're simply frozen green trees that will, eventually turn brown. I was out all day yesterday and had planned a couple of hikes but ended up doing only one. There were a host of different bird species, from ducks to Wilson's snipe, huddled in the comparatively warm waters of lower McDonald Creek. With that many birds around I also saw a fair number of predators wanting to snatch them, including a coyote, and three different hawk species — a red tailed, a sharp-shinned and a northern harrier. Here, a northern harrier takes wing above the creek.