Finally got out on the water

Into August now and we've finally managed to get out on the water, just in time to have a view of the first local area wildfire of the year....and hopefully 'only'....

it was pretty windy so didn't go far but did manage to check out the....

Purple Martins....there was a fair bit of activity, including this female who appeared to be feeding young in this natural cavity....  It appears that many of them are raising a second brood which is great news.

it was surprising to see a Tree Swallow nest box still occupied as most of the Tree Swallows have moved on by now.

seeing gulls flying down the river is more typical of the time of year...probably California Gulls migrating south

in the evening we ventured out again.  The number of Cedar Waxwing and various Swallows and Swifts was amazing....primarily Barn Swallows but others mixed in as well.

this morning it was beautiful out, so we ventured out again....the wildfire in the distance seems to have grown overnight.  The evening before it had almost appeared to be out....at least from the distance we are looking at it from.

there are a lot of Canada Geese out in the estuary area right now....groups of 10 or 20 or so, most still hiding in the grasses that is emerging as the water levels drop.

there was a family of Osprey up one of the branches of the river, the parents obviously introducing the youngsters to the art of fishing.

Spotted this female Wood Duck and a little further along there were a number of ducklings, still quite small, hiding in the grasses.  Surprisingly we only saw one female Common Merganser.....normally you see at least one family of them.  Could also hear a number of Gray Catbirds up in this area where they normally nest....just couldn't get a picture today.

did get a Belted Kingfisher....this one being a male as the females wear the 'belt' in the kingfisher family!

quite a few Great Blue Heron .....water levels are much higher than they normally are at this time of the year so they are probably having problems finding places to stand.  We also saw a couple of little shorebirds fly by....now we are into August, shorebird migration is underway...problem is, we don't have a lot of 'shore' right now although levels are dropping quickly.