Sitemeter

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Harrison Bay and a rare bird....

With the water levels being so high there isn't really anywhere to walk right now close to home so we decided to head over to Kilby for a walk - all still part of the same IBA...but before we head over there.....had a rare bird sighting right here at home....


a White-throated Sparrow!  This is the eastern cousin of the White-crowned and Gold-crowned Sparrow, very common the other side of the Rockies....not so common here but a few individuals show up regularly during spring and/or fall migration.

So now lets head over to Harrison Bay....


sure a difference between this year and last year at the same time.  On this day last year we were actually camped here and were walking the beach right at the base of those pilings out there!


but getting to the birds....certainly there were some Bald Eagles around like this one feeding on a spawned out salmon....


and this four year old perched overhead....


and there was even a pair over at the nest.


Eagles weren't the only ones feeding on salmon....this Herring Gull was busy feeding as they floated down the river.


Smaller birds were busy too.  There were a pair of Downy Woodpeckers busy working on trees growing on the beach along with a large amount of Black-capped Chickadees...didn't manage a picture of them.

Quite a few Steller's Jay and then another surprise....


the first Varied Thrush (at least that I've seen) of the season.

Then back at the water....


another surprise...a Pacific Loon.  Not a first....one spent the winter before last here at Harrison Bay.

All in all it was an enjoyable day with some good bird sightings!


Some nice fall colours too!

No comments:

Post a Comment