Eagles in trees....

Well this was sure a promising sign....

walked down to the estuary this morning and here was the sight in the two 'eagle trees' by the viewing platform.  I think there are 23 Bald Eagles - don't think I've ever seen that many in the trees this early in the season.

and the trees weren't the only place where there were eagles....and gulls...

here are a few more....it was kind of misty out there so between that and distance, not the crispest of photos....

Eagles weren't the only birds in the trees, our over wintering flock of Red-wing Blackbirds have arrived as well.

Later in the day we made it over to the park....wet feet in the process but was determined to get there....

the water in the log bay is turning into fish soup! 

there were quite a few Mallards partaking of the 'soup'...

and eagles perched in the trees but right now there isn't much in the way of any shore for them to feed....we need the water levels to drop down for a while so the birds can clean up because there sure isn't any shortage of dead salmon.

heading for home could hear, and then finally spotted this little Downy Woodpecker up in one of the eagle trees.

Further afield....and an alarming stastic...

With conditions here at home continuing exactly the same we ventured even a little further afield today....

traveling a backroad in Agassiz we came across this flooded cranberry bog that was absolutely full of waterfowl...mainly Mallards from what I could see.  I'm always very happy to see a situation where agriculture and wildlife coincide.  I have no idea how long the field will be flooded, the adjacent fields weren't, but will keep an eye on it.

Pulled into a parking spot at Harrison Hot Springs and couldn't believe my eyes...

there, right in front of us was a Western Meadowlark!  In fact there were 3 of them...

all young ones I think. 

a variety of waterfowl at the lagoon including American Wigeon like the pair above...

some Hooded Merganser, like this little female.  Mallard and a lone male Bufflehead and of course....

Canada Geese......lots of geese!  There wasn't much out on the lake itself...

except a few Grebes....I'm leaning towards Horned rather than Eared but I'm really not sure.  What we didn't see any of was eagles....but we did pass a farm field with hundred's of gulls on it.

Decided to head down to the Weaver Creek Spawning Channel....

hoping to spot a dipper.....but we didn't in fact there was hardly anything there, maybe a dozen gulls and one heron that was it.

Now if this doesn't alarm you nothing will.  Look at the numbers for Sockeye Salmon - 342 Salmon year to date!!!!

by comparison, we visited this hatchery on the 10th of October in 2010....that is 15 days earlier in the month than right now.  The number of Sockeye Salmon on that date (October 10, 2010) was 7,835, in fact they had counted 779 that single day - almost twice as many in one day as they've counted this entire season!  However Chum is the reverse...with 1,956 back then, but also keep in mind that it was 15 days earlier in the month and the Chum arrive a little later than the Sockeye.

And as for eagles....well a pair flew over the spawning channels as we were leaving but once again it wasn't until we got home that we saw substantial numbers of them.  Tomorrow have to head into Mission - we'll see what the situation is on Nicomen Island.

Out and about....

With  water levels staying too high to make it over to the park and with the eagles all concentrated way off in the distance (how many pictures of black dots does one need!), we decided to wander around a bit yesterday to see what we could see....

Started off at Harrison Bay.....

which was, once again, very 'bird less'.  A few gulls out on the water, not a single eagle to be seen....

and it isn't for lack of food.....the shoreline is littered with spawned out salmon....there for the taking.

around the corner where the river heads to the Fraser, there was a substantial flock of Black-capped Chickadee's with a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets mixed in...

Some Dark-eyed Junco as well.  Saw a few Eurasian Collared Dove and even a Brown Creeper but nothing like what we've come to expect over there, at least until recently.  Even that corner that has been of such interest with it's bear and bobcat was completely barren of life.

So headed back and drove....

past the estuary.  Lots of salmon here too, all along the creek.  As it was quite windy out on the river, there were lots of Mallard, American Wigeon and some Canada Geese sheltering in close to the road...all in spots where it was impossible to get a picture.  Saw a pair of Hooded Merganser as well.

Continued on up the road...

and turned in at the Chehalis river Salmonoid Enhancement Site...or hatchery.  With 2 school bus full of students along with others in the hatchery itself we chose to walk the trail along the north side to where this branch of the Chehalis River heads to the hatchery.  As usual it was full of Salmon, mainly pinks although we spotted several nice Steelhead.  Always before when we have been here we have found at least one....

American Dipper, like this guy taken at the site last year....didn't see one this visit, maybe they are all up at the spawning channels.

We walked further...

Spotted this Great Blue Heron on the opposite shore....one of several in the vicinity...
and of course....

there were Gulls, like this one which I think is a Thayer's Gull, based on the very pink colouration of the legs and feet.

and

this, I think Glaucous-wing although possibly a Western/Glaucous-wing cross.  Despite the fact there were gulls there, they weren't in the numbers one would expect and as for eagles....well didn't see or hear a single one!

did want to mention these berries though, the willow shrubs that lined the branch of the Chehalis were decorated with them.  These are the fruit of the European Bittersweet vine....an introduced species that is a distant relative of both tomatoes and potatoes....the obviously thrive in that particular area as I don't recall seeing such vigorous vines anywhere else.

After a couple of hours of wandering we headed for home....to be greeted by the only eagles we'd seen, circling overhead as we pulled into our gates.

Can't say you didn't know....

Well, no one can say they didn't know....

they shouldn't be walking out on the flats.  Thank you to the F.V.B.E.F. rep who put this sign up at the base of our boat launch.  Of course, right now, it isn't a issue, it is all water out there rather than 'flats' but maybe by the time water drops again, a few more people will have got the message.

this was the view this morning....think there are 33 Bald Eagles out there in this photo. 

Water levels had come up to the point today that we couldn't even wade the path to the park but we had made it over there yesterday....

at one point there were quite a few Dark-eyed Junco and American Robins on the ground...

this young one was having a tussle with a Woolly Bear Caterpillar, you can just make it out on the ground.  I don't know if these caterpillars are normal food for them or not, unfortunately before I could see who was going to win, another dog walker arrived and scared everyone away.

I missed a perfect shot of a Ruby crowned Kinglet, but got this Song Sparrow.

back at the other end there were quite a few Canada Geese along with American Wigeon hiding in the grass.

and a Great Blue Heron.  Have spotted a number of Marsh Wren the last couple of days but haven't managed a picture....and speaking of 'spotting' - we are now scanning the area each day wondering when the first swan will show up - there have been reports of a few in the central interior so they are on their way.

Bobcat!!!!

Woke to another drizzly day....

this was the rather uninspiring view this morning....so we decided for our after lunch walk we'd go over to Harrison Bay.  As reported, the last couple of visits, weren't all that exciting - excluding the bear of course!

Being greeted by this rainbow was a promising sign.

these pilings sported a Great Blue Heron on top and a Glaucous-wing Gull at the base.

a couple more gulls landed in the same spot...a young one and an adult.

up on the dike the only birds we saw were a small flock of Yellow-rump Warblers.....looking very pretty in the fall foliage.

Canada Geese had been in an adjacent field when we drove over but a mower was working along the roads and obviously disturbed them so they headed to the bay.

there are a number of large log booms out on the river right now.  When I saw this heron I thought it was struggling with a plastic bag or something, it wasn't until I got home and downloaded the photos that I realized it was a feather he had been wrestling with.

at one point the wind came up and suddenly Bald Eagles appeared out of no where, riding the thermals...counted 27 of them - think there are 13 in this picture.

Now, we've been discussing the lack of birds along the dike recently, and I think I know why and where they are.  Up until this year the field beside the dike has always been planted in corn.  This year it lay fallow for a while and then was mowed down.  There is the spot where there are rumours of another campground being built.  Well not very far away,

there is this spot. The dike runs alongside those trees in the background.  This is where we saw the bear last week.  This field was planted in corn.  As we approached this area today...

a Bobcat walked across the road and into the brambles at the edge of the corn field (I off course didn't react in time to get a photo of the one today but this is a Bobcat I came across earlier this year in the Merritt area). 

We pulled over and parked and...

watched these European Starlings working over this probably manure pile...

Red-wing Blackbirds on the few cornstalks still standing....

and this Wilson's Snipe!  There were also Junco, Towhee, Crows and Steller's Jay and that was just in 5 minutes of watching.  Bring back the corn field at the dike!!!  Please!

Storm three - fizzle

After all the hype, storm 3 failed to materialize.....which was just as well...

there is enough water out there again for now.

Of course that means...

the Bald Eagles are all concentrated in one spot....

except for ones like this juvenile, perched in various large trees around the edges.

a large flock of American Wigeon landed while we were walking by....this is just some of them.

one of the Belted Kingfishers was busy fishing....

This King's Cup Gentian is still the only one I've found.  Very strange.

Anna's Hummingbirds can be heard pretty much everywhere and there is a steady stream of them to any of the feeders, this one was at ours today.