It hasn't been my imagination....apparently we've tied a record for the soggiest November. The last little while it seems that every time we try to get out for a walk, it is raining.
The water levels that had been dropping steadily....
came back up....this was taken on the 27th....see the slight rainbow there...and the touch of blue sky, which encouraged us to attempt a walk over at Harrison Bay....
where Bald Eagles continue to be found in the trees all along the side of the river.
and Canada Geese, Mallard, and gulls, mainly Mew Gulls (little ones) occupy the adjacent field. We could hear Killdeer out there too but didn't see any....and our walk was cut short by another downpour that was more like sleet than anything.
yesterday, more of the same although the water was again dropping and there are lots of ducks, Mallard, Common Merganser, lots of Golden eyes, especially Barrows and some Bufflehead as well.
walked down after lunch and could see the swans that have been hanging about in the area, were in close...
and yes, they are Tundra Swans (see yellow at base of bill). Once upon a time Tundra Swans were a rare occurrence here at the estuary....now they are just as common or even more common than the Trumpeters!
Here is a Tundra Swan family....and a male Mallard.
more over there....
the eagles are out there too....where ever there is somewhere to perch.
December arrives tomorrow and they are promising dryer cooler weather....we can only hope!
Despite the inclement weather we've had the past few days, the water levels are slowly dropping.... only place I've got to is the boat launch so here you go....for comparison...
Here is where the water was on the 24th....
then on the 25th....
and this morning....the 26th. Going to be a while yet before we get to walk over to the park, but at least now we can get out to the edge of the flats to see what is out there like,
these Tundra Swans and a Bald Eagle....you can see from the water in the background that not only has it been wet, we've had some pretty windy spells as well. There have been lots of swans out there, a mix of Tundra and Trumpeters.
not a great photo but this Western Grebe was right down in our boat launch....the closest in I've ever seen one. Not sure if it is the same single bird that had been at Harrison Bay or if there are a few of them here at the IBA this year.
the eagles are hanging in there....yesterday while we had a break in the rain there were literally hundreds of them flying way up high overhead.
the only other species I've seen down there the last few days was this Song Sparrow....well apart from all the various ducks....
and Canada Geese.
One of the most fascinating things about this IBA is how quickly things can change....
here we were yesterday (Nov. 22) morning. Water levels were higher than they have been but that was great because it concentrated.....
the Bald Eagles into a smaller area...by zooming in counted over a hundred birds in this photo.
there were a number of very vocal Tundra Swans out there as well.
The rain held off long enough to get a walk in over at Harrison Bay as well...
where we have never seen so many eagles....
they were perched in trees all along the dyke...
they were out on the log booms...
have never seen that before....
they were everywhere.....and then by late afternoon a pineapple express moved in with pelting rain and high temperatures.... so 24 hours later....
that is as close as could get to the spot where took the first picture the day before....
and out there is where the eagles were concentrated the day before. Water levels rose at least 4 feet over the entire estuary in just 24 hours. Now, if temperatures drop, which they are forecast to do and the rain lets up, which it isn't supposed to do but isn't supposed to be as heavy....then water levels should drop again and there will be a whole new mass of salmon spread all over the estuary, so there will be lots of food for the eagles to keep them around....we shall see.
So Eaglefestival is over. Weather on Saturday was better than predicted, Sunday was pretty much a wash out - literally!
Official count for Saturday was the best in years, 2,270 eagles counted from the boat tour from Kilby beach up the Harrison River to the turn around point.
Of course Saturday morning was the first morning in weeks when didn't see or even hear an eagle during the morning dog walk....Sunday was so wet didn't even look...and now today with the chaos gone....the eagles were everywhere.
those are the eagle trees by the viewing platform...
and there were more in the trees at the log bay
just off from the log bay could see a couple of snoozing swans and could hear there were more out there. Also see there is a Cackling Goose there and a few Mallard and a Common Merganser...
Out there on the flats....
think there are 38 Bald Eagles out there....
but it was a lot closer in where there was a bit of action.....
this guy was enjoying this salmon...
a Glaucous-wing Gull was patiently waiting....
while another eagle didn't have much patience...
and quickly stole it...
but not for long....
ending up as book ends....
and one last thing....took this the other day and forgot to post it...
a Pacific Wren....hear these guys pretty much every day but getting a picture of one is always a challenge.
I for one am going to be very interested in hearing what the official count is going to be this coming weekend, because, boy, do we have eagles!
Lets back up a day or so.... yesterday the rain stopped so after lunch we headed over to Harrison Bay...
with the campground unoccupied, decided to take the beach route....
this guy kept an eye on us....
as we came through the trail to the beach...
could see there was quite a collection of gulls on the beach and that they weren't all the normal Glaucous-wing Gulls. Unfortunately at this point two large, aggressive, off leash dogs came tearing along the beach, so in order to protect our leashed dogs....had to forsake any further gull investigation.
waited for the dogs and their owners to pass us before carrying on......
one of the adjacent fields was full of....
not only Canada Geese, but also the smaller, Cackling Geese....the 4 laying down to the left are a few of them.
the new Bald Eagle nest was still being worked on....there were quite a few eagles perched in trees or soaring over head.
puddles in another field sported Mallards, Northern Pintails and a few American Wigeon ducks.
Today the walks were here at home....
this morning there were several Trumpeter Swans at the log bay. Not just the above pair but also a family with 3 youngsters.....
this isn't a great photo but wanted to show not just the Common Mergansers (2 females on right) but the female Common Goldeneye.....
there are a lot of Common Merganser around right now....in this case a pair.
also Mallard....here with a Great Blue Heron and a young Mew Gull....in fact lots of Mew Gull here also...
but lets get back to the eagles....
this was the scene out on the flats this afternoon....
and closer in, this was just off of the log bay....
and across from the log bay....
and overhead. When you live here you get so used to seeing eagles....but even we were awed by the number of them flying overhead this afternoon....well over a hundred.
Yesterday and today were also the first day's for counting birds at our feeders for the new season of Project Feeder Watch and we had some interesting birds....a female Downy Woodpecker (have never had a Downy in this particular yard before), a male House Sparrow (haven't seen a House Sparrow here in years) and a female Evening Grosbeak...
she has been around for 10 days or so. I reported the male about a week ago. Haven't seen him for a while although I can hear them calling so suspect there are a few around, they just seem to be coming to feeders one at a time which isn't normal for them.
