A good news kind of day......

Yesterday, July 20th was an all round good news kind of day.....

for starters, it was raining....

the first real precipitation in over a month.....

which meant we finally got for a walk over at the dike along Harrison Bay.....

where despite all the dry weather we've had, and because of the high water table, everything is very green and lush....

of course we saw the regulars...

Song Sparrows.....this one in a Black Hawthorne tree with a good crop of ripening fruits.

here is a closer look at this native fruit that feeds so many critters.....including bears, of which we saw evidence that they are in the area again.

but here is some more good news.....

a nearly fully fledged Bald Eagle in the eagle nest....after all the speculation, proof that they had another successful year. Appears only one young one this time although given calls we heard possibly a second might have already left the nest....at least we know for sure there was one!

and of course one of the adults was close by.

there were American Goldfinch lined up on a wire....2nd from left looks like a youngster.

that wire, that only runs part way along the dike, makes a great perch....this time for a Barn Swallow.

White-crowned sparrows all along the walk....didn't see any youngsters this time but we know they are there.

Black-capped Chickadee too....a whole family in this location. (only one in photo)

further along spotted something unusual on a fence post....

turned out to be a male American Kestrel. Kestrel's are in the general area, especially on Nicomen Island and have been seen here at the IBA before but couldn't be classified as regulars.

all of a sudden...

this Spotted Sandpiper flew up out of the field onto a fence post. Guess they decided the farm fields were a safer place than along the side of the dike.

apart from the baby eagle, the most exciting finds...

were the number of Bullock's Orioles! Here a male is feeding a fledgling in a blackberry bush. With Orioles the whole family gets involved in raising the years crop of youngsters, mom, dad, and even siblings from the previous year.

here is a closer look at that particular fledgling.

The good news doesn't stop with the walk though....on July 18th representatives from FVRD parks and members of the Georgia Basin Ecological Assessment & Restoration Society who were responsible for installing the initial 6 nesting boxes for Purple Martins here at the estuary, installed 12 more nesting boxes and as they balanced on ladders, in boats they had a chance to really examine the little colony and found that all 6 of the original boxes that I've posted photos of, were full of youngsters....so a very successful nesting year....and as the adults were busy examining the new boxes almost immediately, sounds like next year will be even better. Next time we get out on the water, we will check out the new boxes.

back to some fledglings and possibly the only not great news of the day....

was the spotting of this very young Black-headed Grosbeak out back. It is so young that it would appear to have been forced off a nest early, probably by the tree holding the nest being cut down or pruned severely. The good news is that it's dad was with it, feeding it, and since pets aren't allowed to roam free in our complex, it will hopefully survive.

I've had fledgling Purple Finch coming to the only little feeder I have out at present, for the past few weeks, in fact last week a female was collecting dog fur...possibly thinking of raising a second hatch, which would be very late.

so by evening the sun was shining once again.....