Yesterday, Sunday November 29th we were given the opportunity to take the Safari boat trip from Kilby beach, up the Harrison River to the point where the Chehalis River joins.
Let me take you along for the ride....
water levels have dropped so dramatically the past ten days or so that the jet boat had to access the beach on the far side of the railway bridge. The Harrison River joins the Fraser River not to far from that point of land. I'll mention right now that the coniferous trees on the far shore had a number of Great Blue Heron perched in them.
This American Dipper almost came aboard but veered at the last minute and went to join the heron on the far shore.
On our way now...you will note weird reflections in some of the photos as I was taking them through a window. You can't see it in this photo but there were large numbers of swans all along the shoreline. The arctic front that moved southwards through the province this past week has really brought up the numbers of swans.
We've past under the highway 7 bridge now and headed up the river....
Really cropped this to give a bit of an indication of the number and variety of birds there were just off of the Sandpiper Golf Course. All kinds of different ducks, swans, geese, and gulls to name a few....
another really cropped and not very clear one showing a little bit of the concentration of birds....that is Sandpipers viewing deck in the background.
not to be out done, the other side of the river looked like this. Yes, those are all Bald Eagles.
we're getting up to the estuary itself now, those flats probably just showed up over night as the water levels continue to drop...eagles and gulls were taking advantage to clean up what ever was now exposed.
further along now, this is one of the permanent gravel bars that separates the Harrison River proper from the estuary area....even though these poplar trees are still relatively young they manage to support a large number of eagles, which is a good thing as you'll see as we move further along.
Continuing on it is surprising to see how shallow the river is...one could easily see the water weeds growing just below the surface.
a couple of eagles feeding in this branch of the Harrison that in high water, flows so strongly we've never been able to canoe through it. This is the area where there was a large log jamb, we couldn't spot it yesterday so maybe it has cleared itself.
Now here is a sight! Such perfect weather conditions too. In a way though this is sad because up until last weeks wind storm there were 3 of these very large Poplar trees, 2 blew down so now there is just the one, hopefully it will survive because it's going to be a long time before any others reach this stature.
here is a close look at just some of the 37 (I think) Bald Eagles that were perched in that one tree.
Pretty much at the turn around point now....
one last close up shot of a pair on top of one of the metal pilings....
eagles were perched in all the, mainly coniferous trees all along the shoreline, going up I was on the wrong side to get photos and going back the sun was in the wrong location so this is the best I could manage. I think I heard that the guesstimate for the number of eagles in the area yesterday was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2,000 or 2,500.
Even for someone who lives here and sees eagles and the other various water fowl every year, it was spectacular and the numbers were phenomenal.
Heading back to Kilby on this spectacular, sunny but cool day. Thank you to those who made the trip possible!
Its been kind of frustrating this past week, the weather has been beautiful but I've been a bit incapacitated so not able to get out and see what is going on, have had to concentrate on the birds at hand like these......
Anna's Hummingbirds....seeing hummingbirds in winter is still a novelty...not sure I'll ever get used to it!
This one is a female....
the other one was a juvenile....took this photo using a flash....
while this one was in the shade...
Not just the Anna's around right now...
the Varied Thrush are now regulars for the winter like this one feasting on the berries of the Beauty Berry shrub....usually these purple berries are left until late in the season but this year between summers heat and drought the berry supply has been extremely limited, what berries there are, are being eaten ahead of normal schedule, we'll be digging into our freezers to feed them come late winter.
So we are sitting here between storms.....the one past was weather....the one to come is the 20th annual Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival - a storm of people!
But lets go back to Tuesday when the area was hit by torrential rains and close to hurricane force winds causing an awful lot of damage.....
we've shown this scene many times over the years....notice something different?
here is the same scene, photo taken 8 days ago - see that piling off the tip of land...well check the first photo again....the wind snapped it right off.
Lots of trees were either blown right down, like these cedars, or snapped off part way up, in fact for close to 12 hours that day no one could get in or out as the road was blocked in one direction by numerous downed trees, power poles and wires and in the other direction by a large rock slide.
Despite all that, the area is ready for the influx of eagle viewing visitors and there are definitely eagles out there....
and swans....
this Trumpeter Swan family with 4 youngsters are getting so used to people that they are almost tame!
The weather forecast and water levels are contributing to almost perfect viewing conditions, but please, if you are coming out to the festival, respect both the birds and the environment....leave your pets at home or in your vehicle, control your children and stay on the trails.
Before we get to the eagles want to point out something....
look at that white stuff - snow! on the top of Mt. Woodside! This is something we didn't see much of last year....nice to see.
Trumpeter Swans continue to hang out with us, this group seems to have a Canada Goose companion.
and then there are the Bald Eagles....lots of Bald Eagles.... this was taken yesterday...
Today's weather wasn't nearly as pleasant but the birds were still there....
in the grass over here.....
enjoying dinner over there....
and ankle deep out there. Of course eagles aren't the only birds around...
this little Downy Woodpecker has been seen several times....
and there have been quite a few Dark Eyed Junco around, like this one about to have a bath.
Pine Siskins have arrived back, soon flocks of them will be invading neighbour hood feeders. There have been reports of a few Common Redpolls mixed in with the Siskins. We haven't had any Redpolls here for a few years now so keep your eyes open.
Decided to go for a walk this morning since it sounds like the next few days might not be too conducive to walking - lots of rain in the forecast!
Noticed a large flock of Hooded Merganser out there, and of course the ever present gulls! There are also some shorebirds in the above photo, probably Killdeer but couldn't tell for sure even when I zoomed in.
and of course there were Bald Eagles, pretty much every where you looked - liked this photo with leaves still hanging on, won't be there much longer between the bit of frost we had last night and the forecasted winds.
The Trumpeter Swan family with 4 youngsters were at the log bay today. There is also a lone juvenile that seems to be living in the log bay, it seems healthy enough but very strange for it to be all on it's own. Note the Mallards in the background and the number of deal salmon on the shore - definitely no shortage of food out there right now!
While watching the swans though, suddenly....
a family of River Otters swam by...difficult to get pictures of as they swim in an undulating fashion....but then...
one of them actually climbed out of the water and up the bank! Otters of course are just one of the many creatures that are presently feasting on those salmon.
On the way back, encountered a large flock of....
Bushtits....unfortunately, even with the DSLR camera that I had with me for a change, this was the best I managed of those little birds that never sit still for a second.
Saw a few....
Varied Thrush as well....again looking pretty in the last of the leaves.
Now have to mention this....in the afternoon drove out to Harrison Hot Springs because I'd heard that....
Snow Buntings had been seen there....and we actually found them! These little birds of the high arctic have actually been seen here at the estuary, but not for a long time, although they could well be here more often than we know of, years when the water levels are very low. It also reminds me that we used to regularly see Horned Larks and American Pipit, two more arctic species that like vast open areas....haven't seen either species for a long time now....
Not as nice a day today, kind of cool, dark and damp....perfect weather for Varied Thrush
which is probably why we saw the first ones of the season today....couldn't get any photos but here....
is a photo of one taken on Vancouver Island early last month.
Back here at the estuary there were even more swans....
many of them having a nap out on the just barely submerged flats....
while this family with 5 youngsters were feeding close in to shore.
Wanted to note too that spotted....
some Northern Pintail ducks out there with the Mallards...sorry about the quality of the photo...is was dark and raining.
We'll end off today with some of the Swan family.
Had a couple of very co-operative Trumpeter Swan families here at the estuary today...
the morning family had four youngsters....the grey coloured ones...
here is a closer look at 3 of the young ones....
and here is an adult with a youngster....
of course swans weren't the only birds around....everywhere you look there are....
Bald Eagles....those are the trees down off the golf course....
and of course they are 'out there'
as well as over head.
In the afternoon, the family of 6 had left, but...
a family of 5 had replaced them....the parents are above...
with one of the juveniles here along with 2 of the 4 female Common Merganser that were in the area....
of course there were also a few gulls...this one is, I think, a Glaucous-wing/Western hybrid...
while this one is a Mew Gull....
and we will end off with yet another...
Bald Eagle.
