Halloween

The last day of the month…already! and it was spookily quiet today, at least along the foreshore…I think some little Sharp Shin Hawk or something similar must have done a ‘fly by’ just before we went for our walk because everybody was hidden and not making a sound!

A lot of Green Wing Teal again today…I’d ‘guesstimate’ close to a hundred…some Mallard and just a few American Wigeon.

Quieter over at the log bay as well, still lots of Salmon in the bay

out on the flats it was a different story…somewhere between 300 and 400 Bald Eagles and probably into the thousands when you talk about gulls!

just a typical fall day when you look this direction…there was a wall of black behind us, but it did stay dry..

This juvenile Bald Eagle was about the only bird in close although there were numbers of eagles and gulls flying around.

Something a little unusual was spotting these Northwestern Crows…there was a smaller bird with them as well but I couldn’t ID it…

I wanted to get this picture in…I’ve been mentioning the large flock of Pine Sisken hanging about the area….yesterday I took this picture of just a part of the flock in the top of one of the broad leaf Maple trees.  There are 100 in this picture.  I estimate the flock at 300 at least.

and now, because it is Halloween and this is my blog so I guess I can do what I want on it…

my daughter just sent me this photo of my grandchildren…I was pretty impressed with the creative display…and the littlest one is a crow…so I guess it all ties in.  Happy Halloween!!!

Anna’s Hummingbird

I wasn’t fast enough on the draw with the camera, but today I saw an Anna’s Hummingbird.  I shouldn’t be surprised, a neighbour has seen one, or possibly two different ones, several times in the past week or so.  Nevertheless I find it kind of weird to see a hummingbird at the end of October…but I guess, as this species extends its range, it is a sight we will get used to.

It was another beautiful day after a bit of a foggy start.  As you can see, lots of ducks, all the same species we’ve been seeing in recent days (minus the Pintails).  The flats, by comparison, were quite barren today..but the skies sure weren’t…it didn’t matter when you looked over head, there would be 50, 60, or more Bald Eagles circling around…a spectacular sight!

over at the log bay…the usual raft of ducks, and lots of Salmon.  The 3 Trumpeter Swans were out there, but far out and further down towards the golf course.

This gull, probably a Glaucous Wing but possibly a Glaucous-wing/Western hybrid was enjoying a sunny spot…

along the trail, this Varied Thrush was busy eating the berries of the Red Osier Dogwood…and how many times have I said that recently!  The importance of this native shrub should be apparent to all by now!

and our friendly Great Blue Heron was in his favorite spot…

there he is, grabbing some tasty tidbit…

now striding purposely through the water.

Varied Thrush

Not quite so nice a day today, but after the stretch of weather we’ve had, we can’t complain!

There were all sorts of Black Cap Chickadees, Chestnut back Chickadees and Bush Tits bouncing around in the bushes here…none standing still long enough for a picture.

The numbers of Green Wing Teal have really increased today, I’d estimate about a hundred in the area…this is very poor picture of a couple of males – looks like they are just coming into full plumage.

There were a number of these dainty Mew Gulls in the vicinity of the first bay…

over at the log bay it is becoming apparent that the water levels are starting to drop quite dramatically.

still lots of ducks there, mainly American Wigeon like this guys…(one Gadwall on the bottom right) and Mallard.  I looked for the Pintails but didn’t see them today, nor were there any swans in sight.

The find of the day was spotting two Varied Thrush (only one in picture).  I have thought I’d heard them a couple of times in the past few weeks, nice to confirm that they are actually now here…they often don’t turn up in any great numbers until December.

an ‘activity out on the flats picture’….

and finally a Bald Eagle picture – this guy flew into one of the ‘eagle trees’ by the viewing platform while we were there…he appeared to be wiping his bill off on the branches before settling in.

Swans!!!

Today was an absolutely glorious day!  I had the good fortune of getting to spend at least 3 hours, if not more, out in the sunshine.

If you can see it at all it probably looks like dirt on the camera lens, but there were 20 or 30 Bald Eagles in a big ‘kettle’ at this point, in fact the eagles appeared to be enjoying the day as much as the humans were!

I’ve zoomed in on those mountains in the distance because they had the season’s first dusting of snow…

out on the flats there weren’t quite as many eagles as some days, partly due to a boat that cruised in awfully close and sent a lot of them flying..

Ducks were everywhere!  Here a bunch of Mallards dozing in the sun…couldn’t get a picture, but just across from these guys were 4 Northern Pintail…a duck species we don’t see too often…

a few Gadwall (male in the lead)

and at least a hundred or more, American Wigeon.  Also present were a number of Green Wing Teal..

but the most exciting find of the day were the first Trumpeter Swans of the season!  (as an aside, look carefully at this picture…besides Swans, ducks, eagles and gulls there are at least 6 and possibly 8 fisherman lined up along the banks of this little stretch of river)

Speaking of looking carefully – there is an American Robin in the above picture…the bushes along the trail were almost as busy as the flats…Fox Sparrow, Towhee, Pacific Wren, Song Sparrow, a flock of Bushtits, a bigger flock of Pine Sisken…it just went on and on….

There were several Great Blue Heron, this being the one that has been seen on a daily basis…

and I’ll leave you with another Swan picture….I should mention too that a few postings back I mentioned the possibility of a small gull that I had seen maybe being a Bonaparte…we’ll today a birder with more gull expertise than I, confirmed the sighting of 2 Bonaparte Gulls…so another confirmed species for the Chehalis Estuary.

another typical fall day

another typical fall day…was a little worried that I was going to get wet, but it has actually stayed dry all day, despite the dark clouds that come and go.

the resident Heron was on a post today – interesting thing was that there had been a gull on this piling, but it didn’t even put up an argument when it saw the heron headed in it’s direction.

Pretty typical out on the flats too, lots of Bald Eagles and Gulls.  Could hear some Mallards and American Wigeon but there weren’t any ducks in close today.

Lots of Salmon in the log bay…in fact I think more than I’ve seen for a few years…of course I checked back and there is more water in there right now then there was on this date last year.

Still trying to get a decent picture of them, but this gives an indication of the numbers that were there.  Other than this, nothing out of the ordinary today, lots of Chickadees in one section, could hear Kinglets in another – that was about it.

Wet

Wet – that is about all I can say about today.  Had to resort to hiking boots and a winter jacket, and even so we didn’t attempt forcing our way through the soaking bushes..

The usual assortment of ducks were out there…

and so was the Heron – there seemed to be a few more Green Wing Teal today.

a fair bit of Salmon activity over in the first bay..

here a Salmon fin going by what is presumably some Beaver handiwork as they drag some willow branches to their den area for an emergency food supply should there be a harsh winter.

an adult (on left) and a juvenile (on right) Bald Eagle in the poplar tree by the viewing platform…and that was about all we took the time for.  Did spot a small hawk, I think a Sharp Shin, fly by and there was a Northern Harrier out on the flats…also have noticed an increase in the number of Red-wing Blackbirds coming to my feeder – there was also a female there, among the males today.

Typical Fall Day

If yesterday was a ‘perfect’ fall day – today was a ‘typical’ fall day with some rain, some sun, a bit of a breeze and lots of clouds..

it was also ‘typical’ in respect to what you can expect to see this time of the year…here a Song Sparrow seen in the bushes as we approached the estuary..

I could see there were a lot of ducks out there…

Mainly American Wigeon like these, all in fresh plumage – difficult to say exactly how many, as there was a lot of restless activity today amongst all species…every time an Eagle flew over, and they were flying over constantly – ducks would take off and land elsewhere, but certainly there was well in excess of 130 American Wigeon..

This young Glaucous-wing Gull stayed put long enough for a picture

and the Great Blue Heron that has staked out this particular fishing area, was belly deep in the water – I can tell it is the same one as it seems to have more white on it than is typical.

Out on the flats there were a few less Eagles, perhaps 75, but that was only because there were a lot more flying around, including several sets of ‘bickering’ ones…attempts at getting pictures weren’t worth posting.  Speaking of ‘bickering’ there was also a pair of Raven having a set to with some sort of light coloured Hawk…I couldn’t make out the exact species…perhaps a Northern Harrier.

Bird wise, the log bay held quite an assortment of ducks…

  4 Mallard in the lower part of the picture, 3 Gadwall in the middle far left, and more American Wigeon.

The bay itself was quite full of spawning salmon.

On the way home I first spotted a little Merlin flying through the complex, which explained why all the Dark Eyed Junco that had been there when we went, were no where to be seen, and then, in my neighbours yard, I spotted this Gold Crowned Sparrow – the first of the season.

And finally I should mention that another neighbour called me yesterday to say they had just had a female Anna’s Hummingbird at their fuchsia basket.