It's that time of the year

Water levels are rising dramatically.....the estuary is no more and is turning into a seasonal lake and it is time for us to hit the road and do some traveling of our own....not sure when we'll be back, it may not be until late June....so don't expect any updates for the next month or so....see you in summer.

Rising water

It is that time of the year....went for a walk one day, the path was bone dry...

24 hours later it was under water!  A combination of warm weather then some heavy rain had it's effect....whether levels will drop again or whether this is it and levels will continue to climb - only time will tell.

We attempted a walk over at Harrison Bay yesterday between downpours....

the wind was so strong that there were white caps on the bay and nothing much in the way of birds although we did spot the first Brown headed Cowbirds of the season.

all winter it seems all area Eurasian collared Doves hung out at Kilby but now they have spread out and we are seeing, and hearing them all over the area.

not a great photo...but does show that American Goldfinch are back although not in great numbers yet.  Rufous Hummingbirds are still pretty sparse too.  White crowned Sparrows have been seen the last few days....pretty much right on time.

Expecting a Band Tail Pigeon to show up any day now.

Swan????

If someone had just told me that there was a swan at the boat launch this morning I would have figured it was an April fools joke....

but see that white dot out there.....

it is a young Trumpeter Swan!  I wonder if it is the one we were seeing back in the fall that seemed to be all on it's own although it hung around with another family.  Swans have pretty much all headed north now, will be interesting to see if this one stays or manages to find it's way north on its own.

The last few days have been record breaking in the heat department with temperatures in the low 20's....

it is amazing how much everything has leafed out in just a few days...that of course is a male Red-wing Blackbird.

it has been quite quiet bird wise, at least as far as a variety of species.  There are lot's of Tree Swallows, with a few Violet Green mixed in.  A few American Goldfinch have been spotted and there was just 1 Pine Siskin one day.  Rufous Hummingbirds are still being elusive...have seen one a couple of times but certainly in the numbers you'd expect by now.

The other evening...

this Great Blue Heron flew in and proceeded to do some fishing in front of us.