One month of 2018 gone already - and boy was it a wet one! We might have started out with ice and snow but it didn't stay that way...it has just been rain, rain, and more rain with the occasional wet snow just to make it interesting.
Didn't even take the camera with me today although it did actually let up for a few minutes so the walk was mainly dry. This was taken yesterday which was one of the nicer days, at least for part of it....and you can see the water levels have come back up thanks to all that rain and a brief period of warmer temperatures.
Unfortunately we seem to be having technical difficulties. Good job I don't have anything exciting to report. Lets hope February will be a better month all way round!
After seemingly weeks with little in the way of bird activity, today's walk at Harrison Bay was just the opposite....but we will start with this mornings walk here at the estuary....
where you can see the snow isn't too far away. Notice the Great Blue Heron here in the first bay....
these guys are usually pretty wary but this one was too busy fishing to worry about us walking by.
The morning had been fairly pleasant (for this time of the year)...
but by the time we got over to Harrison Bay the weather had deteriorated...so of course there were birds all over....
the adjacent, slightly soggy field was full....
of a mix of Canada Geese and Cackling Geese....
Mallards....and notice the Killdeer in the top right corner....
in fact there seemed to be quite a few Killdeer - 3 in this photo...
a few American Wigeon as well (this one a male).
It wasn't just the waterfowl though....
Dark-eyed Junco lined the dike on both sides....
European Starling were gathered higher up in some of the trees...
Spotted Towhee were showing themselves more than they have recently. Unfortunately we cut the walk short as it just got too wet and cold but nice to see the birds out and visible. The Backyard Bird Count is in about 3 weeks time....hopefully there will be birds to count.
It is just that time of the year.....not a whole lot happening....
occasionally we get a glimpse of sun (and fresh snow on the mountains)
but most of the time it is just gray, damp and chilly. This being Harrison Bay the other day where the only bird activity was centered around nearby feeders.
most notably a Gold Crowned Sparrow....the 'gold' on the head just starting to increase in brightness.
some regulars like this Spotted Towhee....
lots of House Sparrows hanging out there too. Also saw not one but two of the black colour variation of the Gray Squirrels but they sure aren't cooperative for photos. Don't blame them though as the few eagles around are now in hunting mode. The other day a neighbour witnessed 2 adult bald eagle hunting a native Douglas Squirrel, killing it, and then a young eagle diving in and taking it away.
back up our way, the female Belted Kingfisher was back at the log bay after having not been seen for close to a month.
and speaking of 'being back'...
this morning had just spotted these Common Redpolls right down on the path, good job I took this distant shot for proof, because a couple of totally walkers came from the other direction and there went the birds....the only good thing about that was....
while trying to spot where they may have flown too, I noticed these Pussy Willows! Hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel - spring will arrive one day!
saw this female Northern Flicker today....
also today, the Evening Grosbeaks were around. For at least 2 months now we have had 1 female (2nd from right) coming to our feeders, with up to 6 males showing up occasionally.
The species that seems to thrive on this dull weather....
is the Varied Thrush....the other day we counted 13 of them in our little yard.
so will leave you with one more photo...the log bay early this afternoon.
Weather continues to be interesting....
this was the scene yesterday morning....once again we lucked out and missed the really bad weather, no freezing rain and just a skiff of snow....all of which...
had disappeared again, come this morning.
People have been commenting on the numbers of Bald eagles around the last few days....not hundreds like we get in October and November, but more than have been around during the worst of the weather. Also being commented on is how big they are....but that is due to the fact that most of them are young ones of varying ages, but young ones tend to be larger than mature ones.
this one, for example, with the mainly white 'tummy' is a 2 year old.
while this, mainly brown one is a year old one....it should be mentioned that apparently there are several Golden Eagles in the general area this winter.....I'm not sure if I'd recognize a Golden Eagle....they are very close in appearance to the above, although the bill size and shape is different, the overall bird is larger, and the head and back of the neck has a golden tone.
back to the bald ones though, this is a 3 year old, probably just turning 3 as it will develop more of a mask and other plumage changes before becoming a mature....
adult, like this one.
Although today it was mainly eagles out there...there have been a few other species around...
like this Golden-crowned Kinglet having a spider for breakfast...
a Brown Creeper....
lot's of Dark eyed Junco....
Song Sparrow....
and, of course, those tough little Anna's Hummingbirds.
Here it is, the 9th day of the new year already and we've been pretty confined because all that snow we got, just doesn't want to disappear, despite the rain we've had the last little while.
on the 2nd, that was as far as we could get - that is my little monster zooming around out there having a ball!
on the 6th, we made it as far as the first bay but couldn't get any further
then yesterday, the 8th we made it to the log bay. As you can see, there isn't much around. A few eagles, a couple of Mallards, the occasional swan but that is about it although yesterday,
the bushes all along the trail were alive with little birds. Chickadee's of both kinds, the one above being a Chestnutback, but also lots of Gold Crowned Kinglets.
and this lone male Hooded Merganser was there one day.
today we made it over to Harrison Bay. This was actually our 3rd attempt. The first 2 we hadn't stayed because the small area of the parking lot that had been plowed was packed with vehicles and the snow on the dike too deep to walk in....today we had the place to our self.
the beach is still snow covered and it was just as quiet over here. A few Swans and Geese, a couple of crows, a tapping woodpecker, and a pair of Kingfisher flying around and that was that....but it was nice to get out for a decent walk!
Again, a little outside of the normal area. We did try to get to Harrison Bay today but there was very little of the parking lot cleared and what was clear was full of vehicles - forgot that today was a holiday! So we drove to Deroche for some more photos...
here is the highway 'en route' - keep in mind this is at least the 4th day since the ice arrived and the 2nd day of nothing but sunshine and it is still all over everything.
went down a side street - not very far because weren't sure if we'd be able to turn around...
here is a close up of an Alder Tree encased in ice.
one of the twigs....
drove down another section, along the Deroche slough
grasses down in the slough....along with some tiny foot prints.
love this ice encrusted Blackberry vine!
a lot of the slough is frozen so the areas of open water are well populated.
Trumpeter Swans and various ducks....
and some more icy twigs.
