Osprey and red-tailed hawks nest here, but bald eagles just visit. The recitation continues as we move from the moist banks on the east to drier, steeper bluffs facing north and west. I notice how dynamic the landscape seems. Intermittent streams and springs form moist habitats. Trees slide down the bluff and litter the beach, offering hunting perches for birds and changing the patterns of deposition on the beach.
Winter storms open the forest canopy and create snags used by cavity nesting birds.
Leslie brings us to a ravine, where springs have created a moist grotto of ferns and western red cedar. Years ago a narrow-gauge railway ran down this ravine to the beach. It carried bricks fired in the kiln of the Wepusec Brick Company, which operated from 1910 to 1914. The kiln stood in the fields above us and clay was mined from a pit nearby. The bricks were barged to Olympia to be used in building foundations.