Lots of Robins

The fog cleared early today and the sun shone for what they say will be the last time for a few days…finally rain is in the forecast!

It was kind of ironic today as one of the daily newspapers had an excellent article on this area and the importance of protecting it and not disturbing the eagles….the ironic part was that today there were virtually no eagles visible…

and this is why….there were people out on the flats at the tower that was erected a number of years ago.  Presumably an eagle cam was being set up to show the eagles feeding on the flats (see a few in the background), so I guess today’s disturbance was justified….

with no eagles to concentrate on…

we’ll look at the Salmon as there were quite a few in the area off of the log bay..

but I think the most notable thing today were the numbers of American Robins in the area – the above one, with it’s spots, still being quite young.

Most of the robins are concentrating on the fruits of the Pacific Choke Cherry trees….I’m pretty sure I heard a Varied Thrush today as well, but haven’t been able to actually spot one yet.

I’m going to post one more shot of the human activity out on the flats, to show all the Northwestern Crows that have been around the last few days…obviously disturbed at this point, they are all the black dots in the sky..

there weren’t nearly as many ducks and gulls today either, but this Glaucous-wing Gull had stood fast and was busy having a salmon meal.

Yellow-rump Warblers are still around…along with lots of Chickadees…

Numbers of Dark-eyed Junco are also increasing…

and on the way home spotted this Northern Flicker….it is a hybrid as it has the red ‘moustache’ of the Red-shafted and the red ‘V’ on the nape of the Yellow-shafted….

Looking more seasonal….

Seems like this long drawn out summer is finally coming to an end…

today we’ve had fog that the sun hasn’t quite been able to burn completely off.  As you can see in the above picture, there were quite a few eagles out there…I’d guess getting close to a hundred…hard to tell though as a fisherman was returning across the flats with his catch and that sent them all flying..

The ‘eagle trees’ are being well used already!  Kind of hard to get pictures with all the leaves still on the trees.

this was one of several juvenile Bald Eagles…in one of the trees,

foggy over at the log bay too…

a couple of Great Blue Heron there, and another up the other way.

quite a few Mallards

and definitely spawning salmon!

The Mew Gull have arrived….also saw a Herring Gull as well as the Glaucous-wing that have been around for a week or so.

There were a lot of small birds, Chickadees and Ruby-crowned Kinglets for sure and I think some sort of warbler but just couldn’t get a good look…a raptor that looked very much like a Peregrine Falcon in wing shape, size and colour, flew through several times, but again I just couldn’t get a good look.

this 4 to 5 year old was one of the eagles perched above the viewing platform…

more Mallard and Green-wing Teal in this area.  Quite a large flock of Northwestern Crows flew over at this point but couldn’t get a picture – well couldn’t get a ‘focused’ picture! 

Early Happy Thanksgiving…..

Yes it is a few days early but we’re taking off shortly to enjoy what will most likely be our last camping trip of the year.  Spending Thanksgiving (the Canadian one) at Tunkwa Lake has become a tradition over the last few years….and with the glorious weather, I expect we won’t be alone (although I hear it was minus 10 there last night – that’s good – it will feel more like October than it does around here right now!!!

We got for our full walk today.  Less than 24 hours after the sign appeared – it disappeared – although I doubt that will be the end of the issue.

the day was sunny and warm but with quite a breeze so all the little birds were hiding in the bushes. Over against that bank…

this Great Blue Heron was sheltering out of the wind.

You know, it seems a little early to me for both the number of Bald Eagles out there right now, besides these (I think 15 in picture) there were an equal number riding the thermals up over the hillside to the west of the estuary.  I also saw a live Salmon today, struggling through the shallow water…again, that seems a bit early.

 at one spot in the trail, out of the wind, there was quite a large flock of Yellow-rump Warblers.  These warblers are the first to head north in the spring and pretty much the last to leave.

While I was standing at the viewing platform, this guy flew up into the ‘eagle tree’ right over head and proceeded to eat this rather revolting looking ‘prize’!

There were quite a few ducks sunning themselves in various spots.  Thought this was a good example to show the size difference between Mallards on the left and the one Green Wing Teal on the right.

actually took these 3 shots yesterday but wanted to post to show that Dark-eyed Junco are around, their numbers growing.

The Red-breasted Nuthatch continue – I’m hoping my freshly stocked peanut feeder lasts through the long weekend – between the nuthatch, jays and chickadees it is sure doesn’t last long and last night there were two flying squirrels wrapped around it munching on peanuts too!

and finally, one of the Chestnut-backed Chickadees.  We still have Black-capped too of course.  I haven’t seen the Band Tail Pigeon for a couple of days, so maybe it has moved on.

Now what?

A beautiful sunny day….a bit breezy…

didn’t get for a full walk, due to a truck being parked across the park entrance.  There wasn’t a lot going on at our end…

A few Glaucous-wing Gulls were there, the one in the foreground eating a dead salmon.

There had been 2 Great Blue Heron at different points, then they suddenly decided to fly together…

It wasn’t until the evening when my husband came home so mad I thought he’d have another heart attack that I found out the reason for the truck…

this sign had appeared right in the middle of the path leading to the park. Now what?  We’re allowed to walk up to this sign but no further???

 

on a positive note….there were 2 Bald Eagles feeding on another dead salmon. 

A busy day….

Another cloudy day with some sunny breaks and lots of bird activity.

We’ll start at the log bay where it is really looking like fall!  There were robins and flying about…

a number of Northern Flicker – I’m putting in this ‘butt shot’ to show that this flicker was one of the Yellow Shafted (look carefully at the underside of the tail) – Yellow shafted are not common here on the west coast…

the Flickers (this one a normal Red-shafted) were feeding on the berries of the Red Osier Dogwoods – every year I point out the importance of this particular native shrub – here is another example.

a big flock of something, that flew down from the Poplar trees to the willow shrubs elicited an ‘oh my goodness’ from me due to the numbers…turns out they were Pine Sisken as a few dropped down for a drink.  There was a Kingfisher flying back and forth here as well, and Red-wing Blackbirds were calling.  There has been no sign of Red-wings for at least a month, but it appears that the usual over wintering flock of males is starting to form up as I had the first Blackbird in months at my feeder this morning…

also at the log bay were Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Junco, and I thought these were White-crowned Sparrows when I snapped the photo – but now I look at them, I’m pretty sure they are Gold-crowned Sparrows…if so, the first of the season.

Song Sparrows were everywhere!!!  This one along the trail,

a young one in another spot….and many more at various locations.  Chickadees and Ruby Crowned Kinglets continued to be active although in not quite the numbers we saw a few days ago…

and there folks, is the first dead Salmon of the season.  Haven’t seen any swimming yet, but this one was off of the first bay…

and explains the fact that the gulls – this one a Glaucous-wing Gull, are showing to our side of the estuary.

hard to see, but all that white out on the flats are gulls as well, crows and raven were also calling out there today, but didn’t see any eagles!

The nuthatch invasion continues and so does the Band Tail Pigeon!

It’s October….

The month of October has started out kind of gray…

but still dry with only one very light shower…  I would have been an excellent birding day but unfortunately I was so rushed for time I couldn’t take advantage of it…but I do want to mention that there was a Sandhill Crane calling out there when we approached the estuary – there is no mistaking the call of a Sandhill!

also it was a day when Bald Eagles were perched in pretty much every large tree near the edge of the water – not in the numbers they will be, but still it was nice to see them…

Small birds seemed to be everywhere…

and noticed a number of individual gulls – like this Glaucous-wing Gull perched at almost even intervals….perhaps they are all on sentry duty watching for the first salmon!

and the Red-breasted Nuthatch invasion continues!  Not that anyone is complaining! In fact I think we are all hoping they plan to stay for the winter…also, it is now October and there is still at least 1 Band Tail Pigeon coming to the feeders.  That is the latest date we have ever had Band Tails here.