Our sunny 'winter' continues although temperatures have edged back a bit more towards normal.
It is very pretty but it has also been very quiet 'bird wise' perhaps because the nice weather brings out more human activity, hard to say just what is going on. Still if you really pay attention you can spot some things of interest....
like this female Northern Flicker that was working over those shrubs on the collapsed 'log bay' yesterday. Usually flickers are seen regularly all winter but this winter they have been in short supply.
What have been seen regularly, at least in the park is this...
male Hairy Woodpecker....took this yesterday when he was working away deep in a grove of trees. Today I saw a female so that is good news, we obviously have a pair in the area.
Yesterday was interesting as there were a number of...
Varied Thrush. We usually expect to see these guys on dark rainy days, not bright sunny ones. Today there was a flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets down low working over the bushes, unfortunately didn't manage a photo of those active little guys.
Song Sparrows are becoming more and more visible as they are pairing up and staking out nesting territories.
this little guy was drying out after a bath. Song Sparrows were probably the earliest nesters in our area, at least they were before the Anna's Hummingbirds arrived on the scene.
This strange winter continues....we had torrential rain for a day or so, which brought the water levels back up....
this was taken yesterday, Jan. 26th over at the collapsed log bay on another unseasonably warm day - temperatures reached 15 degrees Celsius!
there was a fair amount of little bird activity in the vicinity like these Pine Siskin that have been starting to show up with a bit more regularity lately.
and Black-capped Chickadees.....
even spotted this female Purple Finch! First one of those I've seen in months. There were also some Ruby-crowned Kinglets and I've heard there is a Townsend's Solitaire in the area. Usually if any of those grey coloured cousins of the American Robin are going to stop by during migration it isn't until late March or even April. There are a few Robin being seen too.
also spotted lurking in the bushes yesterday was this little guy, a Douglas Squirrel, nice to see one actually in the park.
and not to be outdone, there was this...
Bald Eagle perched over in a tree where we don't normally see them.
Today it was still mild although not as warm as the last few days, we went over to Kilby to see what was around....
as you can see it was very grey and misty! There was one eagle perched in that far tree but not a lot of anything else on the water.
a flock of Bushtits (this one, with the yellow eyes being a female) were busy going over the bushes in one area along the dyke.
way more Dark-eyed Junco than we've seen all winter, must have been a hundred or more. Also the usual Song Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, Black-capped Chickadee's etc. and a few Red-wing Blackbirds. The situation of the sick and dying Red-wings continues to be of concern as the resident flock appears to be getting smaller and smaller. Also noticed were some House Sparrow, and an Anna's Hummingbird.
Lastly, even though this picture isn't as clear and crisp as I'd like, put it in to show this Steller's Jay with it's white 'eye brow' - this is typical of the jays seen in the interior and more eastern parts of the province.
Beautiful day today, just like spring...took the dogs for a walk over to Kilby...
was pretty quiet over there, just like it has been everywhere else lately...
there was this family of Trumpeter Swans in quite close to shore. Quite a few more further out.
over in the adjacent farm fields there were masses of ducks and geese...
mainly Northern Pin Tail and Green Wing Teal with a few Mallard.
the trees along the dyke were full of Black-capped Chickadees some of them already giving their 'here Penny' breeding season call.
there were a few Red-wing Blackbirds but not many. Something strange has been happening with this species in this area this winter. We are finding sick and dying birds and the numbers of the around seem to be dropping rapidly. Authorities have picked up some of the dead birds, Avian Flu has been ruled out but we are still waiting for word of what is actually happening to them.
and will finish off with this juvenile Bald Eagle perched in a tree in the parking lot.
It's been a while since I've reported anything....it is that quiet time of the year. Today was one of those spring like days, more like April than January, complete with lot's of showers...
seems every time the sun shone and it seemed safe to venture out for a walk, another cloud would move over and we'd get drenched.
this Bald Eagle was perched at the edge of the water....the only bird in sight! In fact apart from hearing some Gold crowned Kinglets working over the cedar tree grove we didn't see another bird all the way to the log bay where we discovered this...
I guess the windstorm we had yesterday did in that top log....it has been perched precariously for a while now....seems strange that it has managed to stay put for almost a century until this year.
here is a closer look. Certainly ruins the whole ambiance of the area.
the weekends rain also brought up the water levels a bit....no doubt they will retreat again soon....sure is barren out there! One bright note, my husband saw a couple of robins this morning, they don't usually start showing up in any great numbers until mid-February. There has also been a flock of Pine Siskin seen periodically the last week or so.
Heading back....
we were treated to this rainbow. This photo taken from the viewing platform...
and ended with this spectacular double rainbow, so close I couldn't get the whole thing in!
What with one thing and another haven't gotten out for too many walks lately...
which doesn't really matter because we back into typical, dull, grey, January weather with not a lot of anything much around. Still a few eagles, some ducks and a heron or two....that is pretty much it.
some times when you walk the trail you don't see anything, other times there is lots of activity like this Spotted Towhee scratching in the leaf litter.
Still watching the Anna Hummingbird activity....
today we had at least 3 different ones at the feeder. A male, a young one and this one which I think is a female although I'm wondering if it might be a young male just getting it's colour. Will have to get out my field guide and try and figure it out.
We also have a bit of a mystery happening with Red-wing Blackbirds in the area....will report more when I have some answers.
Well as promised....today we got snow...
this was taken about 11 this morning.....
and this about 2:00 pm....in all we got close to 6 inches before it switched over to rain.
there were a number of Bald Eagles around....obviously they weren't all up at Brackendale where there was concern about the low numbers for this first day of their annual Eagle Festival.
there aren't a lot of gulls left around but this Glaucous-wing was over at the log bay this morning.
Not a lot of birds around today, this Varied Thrush was one of several at our place until a Sharp-Shin Hawk decided to take up residence. Unfortunately missed an opportunity to get a photo of it.
Anna's Hummingbird was still out there in the snow. This is about the time of year they disappeared last year so I'm interested to see how long I'll continue to see them this year.
Thought I'd get out for a walk today in case the dire weather predictions actually come to pass....
it was a dull but dry sort of day....one thing to mention I noticed today how the bank along this, which I call the 'first bay' is disappearing. I'm not sure why that should be happening after all these years. I know the banks over at the log bay are breaking down rapidly due to all the human and dog activity over there but I haven't noticed much in the way of people going down this bank....maybe it is just due to the amount of high water we've had but again, why now?
this Great Blue Heron was perched on the piling....one of it's favorite spots.
Could hear Swans and finally spotted these guys way over flying down the Harrison River.
things were pretty quiet here at the log bay.
and you can see that water levels are back down to where one expects them to be this time of the year...this also shows some of the breaking down bank at this site.
It was pretty quiet along the trail too although I did see a couple of Spotted Towhee....
and Song Sparrow..... I could hear something tapping way up in one of the eagle trees....
and finally spotted this male Hairy Woodpecker way up high....almost looks like he is building a new nesting cavity.
Now I guess we wait and see if we have snow photos for tomorrow or not.
First day of 2015 and it started off beautifully....
some cloud did move in but then disappeared by late afternoon.....
there wasn't a lot around today, probably because being a holiday there were lots of people out and about...not only that but air traffic continues to be one of the concerns in this IBA
and today was an example of why....don't know if there was a flying club our what but at one point there were four small planes circling around over the estuary....these were just too of them.
One thing of note today was....
seeing this Townsend's Chipmunk! I don't ever recall seeing a chipmunk in January before. Squirrels, yes, but the chipmunks usually disappear for a few months in winter but apparently not this year.
saw a few birds today that I haven't posted for a while, a Steller's Jay....
a Northern Flicker......
a Dark-eyed Junco....and the interesting thing about that is that there have been very few of them around this year, in fact this guy seems to be all by itself, yet my sister who lives in lake country has numbers of them at her place for the first time ever!
and we'll end off with this not great photo of what is becoming sort of classic....an Anna's Hummingbird at a partially frozen feeder...and don't worry, there was another completely thawed one it had been feeding from a minute or two before I took this photo.
