Couple of unusual visitors....

A couple of unusual visitors have been spotted here at the estuary the last couple of days....neither by me....but fortunately we have photos.  But first, have to mention that even though we didn't get all that much rain here, there must have been a considerable amount somewhere in our water shed because....

water levels have come back up!

which means those gravel bars are back to being partially under water, much to the delight of the Canada Geese and masses of ducks, mainly Mallard and American Wigeon.  Note the Bald Eagles way out there.  Numbers of eagles are definitely increasing as are the number of salmon.

there were actually 3 juvenile eagles in this tree....still at the 'spooky' stage where they take off almost as soon as they spot you.  That will change once they get used to the routine 'traffic' in the area.

Now to the unusual visitors....

early Sunday morning these shorebirds were spotted.  Note the very long bill on the one to the left...I'm pretty sure this is a young Long-billed Dowitcher.  Not the first time one has been seen here at the estuary, but they aren't a shorebird we see very often.

Then this morning....

this Northern Saw-whet Owl was found when a neighbour investigated what was being harassed by, of all things, Anna's Hummingbirds!  A number of years ago I found one of these little owls when it was being mobbed by Steller's Jay.  I know that Chickadee's will mob owls, but the fact that Anna's Hummingbirds do too was news to me.  Both of the above photos were taken by my husband while walking our two dogs.

American Robins continue to be around feeding on the Pacific Choke Cherries...

and this...

Great Blue Heron flew up into these evergreens as we were walking today.  Heron often spend the night in these trees.