Beautiful Christmas day!
snow on the mountain tops, a touch of frost on the ground....and robins calling ?! Don't think I have ever heard robins at Christmas before. I've mentioned a few times how many there are around this year when normally we don't see them from the end of summer until mid-February.
had a special Christmas present too because for the first time in at least a couple of months did our walk and didn't see another human being! Of course the treat didn't last for the mid-day walk, but sure enjoyed the morning one!
another treat was spotting some Purple Finch enjoying those Pacific Crab Apple fruits. Hadn't see a Purple finch for months and months. There were actually a lot of birds around,including several woodpeckers and collared doves.....interesting that there are only a few red-wing blackbirds where normally we expect to have a fairly large flock of males spending the winter....definitely things are a little different this year.
Song Sparrows and Towhee were busy as well.
and a few Bald Eagle around, but definitely the spectacle is over for another year.
Now tomorrow they are predicting the possibility of snow....we shall see....a little snow is always good for seeing birds.
For a short period early this afternoon it looked like the weather might be taking a break, so we headed over to Harrison Bay....
so this was the 3rd indication something was wrong. The 1st had been an identical sign at the opposite end of the dike, and the 2nd was a barrier across the road leading to the Kilby parking lot....the problem wires down across the road....so since we knew the wires were on the road and not on this portion of the dike, we ignored the sign....
that used to be a picnic table...
that was an pit toilet.
that is the parking lot....smashed picnic tables littering it.
downed power lines all the way along the dike where we normally walk. A few years ago those same wires caused the death of a couple of dogs and their owner....we stayed far, far away....
One ray of good news....
it does look like the eagle nest survived. A good thing as this is the 3rd nest that eagle pair have had to create after the first 2 went down in windstorms.
Not sure when we will actually be able to walk along the dike again.
Well it is officially winter...or it was as of yesterday, and it started off with a roar....roar of wind that is! One of the strongest windstorms in recent years created havoc throughout, with massive power outages, here being no exception. Our power has just come on after 55 hours.
The weather has been pretty dark and gloomy as well so haven't been out and about all that much. You can see that water levels have climbed again....
the log bay is once again a bay...
lots of ducks out there...mainly American Wigeon I think.
have been a lot of Common Merganser. The little group of Bufflehead are back off the boat launch, but so far it has been to dark to get a picture.
Hooded Merganser have been around too.
and Canada Geese. Still some Bald Eagles too, but numbers have definitely thinned dramatically.
Today came as a special treat!
with sunny skies....but before we go there a few photos from the past wet, gloomy week.
there have actually been a lot of birds around... Northern Flicker continue in large numbers...so do robins. A few more Varied thrush have shown up. There have been Kinglets, both varieties....hopeless to get photos at the best of times and impossible in the gloom.
The last few days there has been a pretty big flock of these little guys....
Pine Siskin.....these guys have been absent for months but now seem to be back, although not coming to feeders - at least not mine! I've tried to see if there are any red-polls with them but so far haven't spotted any.
the number of Bald Eagles has visibly declined now. Haven't seen any live fish for about a week so once the food is gone, so are most of the birds. A bit earlier than what we would consider 'normal'. Usually the decline doesn't happen until early January.
but lets get to our 'living skies'....
headed over to Harrison Bay for a walk....
as soon as started out, could hear what sounded like a lot of Canada Geese....well boy were there ever! Don't recall ever seeing so many....
this is just one tiny portion....they stretched from right beside the dike to the far side of the fields....some smaller Cackling Geese mixed in as well. My 'guesstimate' is at least 2,000.
and then, suddenly, for no apparent reason
they flew in all directions...
What a sight! Some headed out and settled onto the bay
Some headed east....
Some circled over head
they would fly off and disappear from sight, and then next thing you knew they were headed back....calling the whole time. It was amazing!
I guess I shouldn't leave with out mentioning the eagles that continue to be seen over here beside the river in higher numbers than I can recall other years.
Also saw a Loon today....on the other hand, didn't see a single small bird the entire walk! But the geese made up for it.
An interesting day today. I've been noticing talk on some bird sites about the lack of birds coming to our feeders - there are all sorts of theories out there, most of them dire, but I have a bit of a different take on it because even though my feeders are very quiet compared to what I would consider 'normal' for this time of the year, I am also noticing that there seems to be no shortage of birds in natural areas. I am thinking that the reason birds aren't coming to feeders is because there is so much natural food available.
take these American Robins for example. What I would consider 'normal' for around here, is that robins would have disappeared some time in late summer and we wouldn't expect to see them again until mid February....but this year we have large numbers of robins still around...and look at the fruit - in this case, that of the Pacific Crabapple - that is still available.
I am wondering, though, where are the Chestnut backed Chickadees? haven't seen one of those since last winter? Probably still up in the mountains since there hasn't been any snow to speak of. Same with Pine Siskin.....I have seen occasional flocks of them but they are sticking to the tops of the trees that are full of cones....that isn't completely good news though because one of the reasons there is such a seed crop is because the last couple of summers have really stressed our trees, and when a tree is stressed, it reacts by producing seed in the hopes that the species itself will continue on, even if the individual tree doesn't.
here is another robin....and in the same area were, Black Capped Chickadee, Steller's Jay, Brown Creeper, Northern Flicker, Spotted Towhee....and even....
a couple of Downy Woodpecker....not that I could get a decent picture of one!
Song Sparrow too.....
Now, for that determined Bald Eagle....
as I approached the log bay, this juvenile was down in the bay itself, hauling this still living Chum Salmon up and out of the water. I immediately stopped and watched as the salmon would get away and flip back in the water and the bird would grab it and haul it out again....all this done in full view of a number of people standing right above it....
I took a few more shots and then retreated....
as I am sure the birds are getting as frustrated as we who live here in the area are. It would have been great to have actually been able to do a count for E Bird as there was an amazing amount of waterfowl in the general area, but getting to where you could actually see them, without disturbance, was impossible.
After the spectacle the other day, things seem pretty quiet now....
Sure there are still Bald Eagles around....
and some Trumpeter Swans,and yes, that is ice.....there is a pretty chilly wind coming down the river right now, which is typical in winter when we get a period of sunny weather.
But there are more birds than just these guys....
Mallard, of course are always around, some times just a few, sometimes a lot, but Northern Pintail, like these guys aren't seen all that often. There are a couple of American Wigeon in the background here too.
lot's of Green-wing Teal out there too.
and Common Merganser....
Yesterday we walked over at Harrison Bay....with the wind there wasn't much of anything to be seen...other than this....
a young American Goldfinch....that was a bit of a surprise for this time of the year.
back to today, there was a trio of Eurasian Collared Doves flying around (only 2 in photo)....hadn't seen any of them for a while.
Should also mentioned we spooked a Wilson's Snipe.....no photo...with the sun low in the sky and shining straight at us, didn't see it until it was too late....
can hardly miss this little guy though....this male Anna's Hummingbird has his section along the trail staked out and if you just stand there for a minute you are sure to spot him somewhere.
When you have had the privilege of living beside the Chehalis estuary for over 20 years, although you always appreciate what you see out there.... you tend to get used to what others find extraordinary so it takes something really special to take your breath away....
and that is exactly what happened today when we set out for our usual after lunch walk....
pictures never do this sort of thing justice but each of those black flecks was an eagle and this was just a small portion of them....
there were more over here (I've darkened the photo in hopes of them showing up more). All in all by 'guesstimate' was around 250 Bald Eagles soaring over the estuary at one time....
and that wasn't all....
see those white specs out there......swans, lots and lots of swans....
from the calls, it would appear that the ones in close to shore were Tundra Swans....
while ones further out were Trumpeter Swans...I'm estimating about 75 of them....and of course, look at all the eagles out there too
lets post another photo too because this is something you don't see all that often!
not only were there eagles in the sky and out on the flats, but lots of them were perched in trees all along the trails, and they stayed put despite visitors packing humongous cameras about.
this guy flew right in to feed in the grass despite numerous 'eye's' swiveling his direction
this, of course is what the birds are after. With water levels dropping now, there must be salmon scattered all over.
besides eagles and swans, there were ducks....these being Mallard, but noticed more Goldeneyes today, in fact saw some Barrow's Golden eye yesterday. Maybe our little 'herd' of Bufflehead that have spent the winter at our boat launch every single year, will show up soon.
A flock of Canada Geese flew in while we were watching....
and there were several Great Blue Heron, including this one sunning itself in a cedar tree.
Let's end with some twins.....
