Last day of a long hot sunny month!

With the month of July setting records for the most hours of sunshine and the driest month ever (although we did get a little bit of rain here while Vancouver, where records are set, didn't) we figured we'd better take the canoe out again for possibly the last time....

there was quit a wind blowing out on the river so we elected to just paddle around in the bay area beside Morris Valley Road...those fence posts show that this area has history other than it's present state.  

There was a bit of cloud cover...and although it looks like there is a lot of water here, in fact it was only a few inches deep...at times we were more 'poling' than 'paddling'.

still a few Canada Geese sneaking about and spotted a Pied-bill Grebe but it ducked under the water before I could get a picture.  Four young Mallard and a young Spotted Sandpiper rounded out the marsh type birds....oh and one Great Blue Heron.

made our way up one of the little arms....

there was a lot of bird activity in all the bushes lining the water way but boy were they hard to find...even with binoculars that I actually remembered to take this time!  In this picture there are two young Common Yellow-throat...

the most co-operative bird out there was this young Song Sparrow!  There were a number of Red-wing Blackbirds and from the activity they were still feeding youngsters....perhaps a second hatch or maybe they lost the first batch due to high water.

Cedar Waxwing were the most prolific species out the today...well the second most anyway....

there was obviously a Marsh Wren nest in this location....sorry but this 'butt shot' is the only one I managed as they kept down in the grasses

Heading back we spotted...on that piling....

this pair of Bald Eagles....there was another pair perched on another log further out.

and as for the most prolific species....that would be American Goldfinch!  I don't know how many are in the area right now but the youngsters are out and they are everywhere!  There is one adult male an 3 fledgling in this picture and you can see how well they blend into the habitat!  or maybe one of those babies is something else...a common yellow-throat or even a yellow warbler - hard to say. If it wasn't for the fact that baby goldfinch are very vocal, you wouldn't know they were there!

So good bye July - let's see what August will bring us!  Hopefully some shorebirds.