Between rain storms…

We’ve been between ‘systems’ today….so it has actually been dry out there…still very gray and dark, but dry..and mild…

So we ventured out for a walk…not at our usual haunt, but went over to Harrison Bay at Kilby.  As I have mentioned before, this area is still all part of Important Bird Area B.C.033…in the picture above we are on the beach just below the camping area at Kilby, looking towards the railway bridge.

As I’ve also mentioned before, the species of birds you see here are often quite different from those we see just up the river at the estuary area.   Being deeper water, the area is frequented more by the diving ducks such as these Lesser Scaup.  There were also a lot of Common Merganser and some Bufflehead.

We decided to walk along the river as it winds its way towards the Fraser.

This Double Crested Cormorant was out on one of the logs..

and there was one lone American Coot hanging about under the train bridge.

This is the Harrison River, just around the tip of land there, it will join the Fraser River.

These old pilings are remnants from when this area was a thriving mill town…hence the name of ‘Harrison Mills’…

another remnant from the past…those concrete slabs that the trees are growing on top off are being held up by very deteriorated wooden pilings…one wonders just how long they will stay this way, although from the size of the trees, they’ve been like this for a long time.

This male Common Goldeneye was out on the river…very poor picture but at least you can see the ‘golden’ eye!

Heading back noticed some Beaver activity…which reminded me that I haven’t seen any sign of Beaver up in our area for several years now….we used to have Beaver there – in fact the spot that the Heron was hiding in last week, had, for many years, a Beaver lodge in the back corner.

We wandered back the other way…this is looking up the Harrison towards the estuary area (up and around the bend, not visible in the picture)…the water level of the river is a lot higher than it was when we were over here before Christmas.

These Poplar or Cottonwood trees were full off…

Red-wing Blackbirds…so it would appear this is a separate flock, and about double in size, from the one that is up at the estuary.  There were also at least a hundred Swans out on the bay, but too far out to even attempt a picture, and I could hear lots of Chickadees in the bushes here…something we haven’t heard up our way for a few weeks now.