this time heading over to the branch of the Chehalis River figuring there is usually so much bird activity over there....
you can see how much the water has dropped...now the grass that had been underwater, towers over us. I'll have more to say about that grass a little later...
as usual, when you expect things to be one way - they tend to be the exact opposite and so was the case here....instead of lots of birds....there were barely any. This Belted Kingfisher was seen, not exactly cooperative about having photo taken but then these guys rarely are!
This quartet of young Hooded Merganser were seen....
and we had expected to see at least a few shorebirds as from reports seen on various sites, migration is well under way....we did see a few Spotted Sandpiper, like this young one, but that was it.
and then, remember that Beaver we saw at the First Bay....well he apparently has a lot of company. This Beaver Dam had been built since our last foray up this branch of the river which couldn't have been longer than two weeks ago at the most....and this is actually the 3rd dam the beaver have built on this river this summer....this is a point where the river forks and we'd run into dams further up each of the forks earlier, now this one fork is completely blocked and the other so shallow we couldn't go any further up it either so had to turn back.
back into the smoke and haze....
only bird seen was this Song Sparrow....
now back to the grasses...
we'd pulled in close to shore so I could get a photo of a wildflower (using my phone) to post on the Facebook Group for Wildflowers of Western Canada, when we noticed that the grass was absolutely alive with these caterpillars and also those yellowish beetles. I don't recall ever seeing either of them before and have no idea what they are. I have since posted them on the FB Group to see if anyone else knows....to date, no response.
So after that creepy crawly encounter we headed back to that sheltered corner we had been at the day before....
It wasn't quite as busy as it had been the day before but still we were able to add Gray Catbird to the species list and as this is obviously a youngster, definite proof of something we've known for a while....they do nest here.
another, and probably final (for this year) look at the Purple Martins....evenings now we can still hear them as they join large numbers of Barn Swallows flying over the water but I expect soon they will be feeling the migration urge as so many birds are now on the move.
and then a final surprise as we headed back...a small flock of Brewer's Blackbirds...a male, with his yellow eye at the top and a youngster below.
Before I close off I will mention that people in the Fraser Valley are being asked to watch for molted feathers from Sandhill Cranes. Wouldn't I love to see some Sandhill Cranes here and it is a possibility as they have been heard out here before (and seen flying overhead)and with their migration just beginning and large areas in the Cariboo where they normally take rest stops on fire or completely burned, some may have to settle down here. We can only hope! The reason they want the feathers is to get the DNA to track various populations.
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