It has been quite the year so far.....

 The other day I was reminded that I haven't posted anything on here for a long time....and it is true, I haven't and that probably isn't a good thing considering this has been, and continues to be one of the most unusual years we've had in the 25 plus years we've been here.  Unusual, in not necessarily a good way.

So lets go back to the spring....March to be precise....

When water levels were incredibly low....in fact lower than anyone living in the area could ever remember them being.

Some things were normal.....

Bald Eagles were working on nests, however of the nests that were active at this point, only one pair actually stayed and raised one youngster.  The other two nests were abandoned.

Mountain Bluebirds migrated through in late March, right on schedule....

Male Mountain Bluebird on March 19th, 2023

April came and water levels started to creep up ever so slightly, but still very low

One thing that has been interesting this year is the number of wildlife sightings. 

In particular, Coyotes.  This one seen on April 27th was obviously a nursing mother.  Seeing Coyotes has become almost routine!

Some other wildlife sightings have been....

Black Bear swimming at the estuary on June 27th....when there was still some water out there...

which backs us up a bit because water levels finally rose in May when we had the first of our unseasonably warm spells.  The water came up fast...

and with virtually no rain, except for the very occasional day, and continuing warm temperatures....they dropped again almost as quickly.  This phot was taken on June 5th when water levels were already receding.

We should, at this point, mention our Purple Martin Colony which, despite early concerns, seemed to have a successful nesting year.  As I write this in early August, they have already left.....because that is another unusual aspect of this year, everything seems to be about a month earlier than usual.

When it comes to water levels....by July 5th, the 'estuary' was back to being grasslands which allowed the Roosevelt Elk herd to be out on what, any other year, would still be under water for at least another month or, more likely, two. 

or....

this Mule or Black Tail Deer to walk along the park trail and across the grasslands..

Incidentally this is the first sighting of a deer in our area, at least as far as I know, in over 20 years.

As far as birds go, well the Rufous Hummingbirds arrived on schedule but in very low numbers....again I don't think there are less of them, I think they have just expanded their range to other places further north and higher elevations. We did have

Gray Catbirds nest over at the park.....not a 'first', but definitely something that doesn't happen every year...

We were also able to watch a Western Wood Peewee nest

So it is now the 11th of August.  We are about to enter another 'heat wave'.  We've had no appreciable rain for months....

the log 'bay' is almost completely dry....

as is the first bay...

there area Coyotes wandering around out there where normally people would still be boating and kayaking....and we have no idea how it is all going to play out!

I'll try to be more conscientious  about posting now as we move towards fall, because whatever happens....it will probably be interesting.