Last day of fall

 So as of tomorrow, it will be winter....it sure doesn't feel like it, you could be forgiven thinking it was spring!  So mild....but maybe that will change.

The big influx of eagles is finished for the season, but eagle interest is still here, mainly due to...

this young Golden Eagle that continues to hang about the general area.

it has definitely caused some excitement.

as a contrast, for comparison, this is a young Bald Eagle.  Quite different from the young Golden Eagle.  Their calls are very different as well.

Another unusual visitor that continues to show up is....

this Bonaparte Gull....shown with a Mallard pair for size comparison.

Although many of our usual small birds continue to be elusive...  Yesterday we had an interesting observation....

we noticed a number (up to 5) Anna's Hummingbirds buzzing around the top of this cedar tree.....and realized that....

the hummingbirds were harassing a Northern Pygmy Owl!  Of course these tiny owls are voracious hunters of song birds, so a good reason for the small birds to stay hidden although we had seen a small flock of another unusual visitors, Common Redpolls, just before seeing the hummingbirds - unfortunately just couldn't manage a decent picture of them.

another day, this Cooper's Hawk was making sure everyone was in hiding mode.

It will be interesting to see how 'winter' plays out.  So far it has been anything but what we would consider normal.  

Wow!

 One of the things that keep us 'birder's' going is every now and then, something unusual happens. You go for days, weeks, months, even, in this case, years, and then all of a sudden....Wow!

Yesterday was one of those 'Wow!' sightings.....

a Golden Eagle right down in the log bay!  Occasionally, over the 25 plus years I've been watching this area, a knowledgeable person has reported a Golden Eagle, most often those who report seeing one have actually just seen a juvenile Bald Eagle. There is no mistaking this one. 

this rear view shows the colour pattern on the tail.

here is another view....

then, just to make things easy to compare, a juvenile Bald Eagle flew down beside the Golden.  The Bald Eagle is on the right, the Golden on the left.

now the juvenile Bald is on the left and the Golden on the right.  The juvenile Bald looks bigger than the Golden because it was a bit closer.  In reality, Golden Eagles are larger than Bald Eagles, although juvenile eagles tend to be larger than fully mature ones.

The Golden Eagle wasn't the only unusual visitor yesterday, a Bonaparte Gull was also there.  We had a few of these earlier in the fall but they are definitely not a common sight here.

another, not so common sight, a bit later in the day was snow.  First of the season and it didn't stay long.

We wandered back over to the log bay, this approximately 4 year old Bald Eagle was enjoying a snack in the snow.

Will end off with an adult Bald Eagle.....

Well into December

 We are well into December now and the viewing of Bald Eagles continues....

some days there are quite the gatherings....

like this....   other day's, not so much.

Water levels....

rose when we had rain....but have dropped again almost as quickly as they came up.

Canada Geese showed up with the water.

Trumpeter Swans can usually be found, sometimes just a few, sometimes in larger numbers.

Mallards and Common Merganser have hung around too.

there hasn't been much in the way of unusual sightings, although this Cooper's Hawk was around the other day.

a Song Sparrow decided to show itself the other day as well.  Actually there were two but one stayed down low, which is what most of the smaller birds seem to be doing these days.

so since eagles are the main attraction, might as well post a few more photos...

adult eating salmon

Trio on a branch.

Now it is December....

 Last month of the year and a definite change in the weather.

started off with a little bit of snow overnight.

slightly inclement weather is always better for seeing Eagle!  They were perched all over this morning.

quite the variety out there.  Some Trumpeter Swans (we are still waiting to see a Tundra Swan this year), Mallards, Mergansers and gulls.

Bald Eagles of course!

something unusual this year are the number of dabbling ducks, especially American Wigeon that are hanging about the area.  The 'flats' have been high and dry for so long that grasses have grown on them, which the ducks are grazing on.  Normally, this would be under water and the ducks would be found in local fields.  There is a pair of Green-wing Teal and a male American Wigeon in this photo.

not sure what is in that muck, but obviously the Mallards and a couple of female Green-wing Teal are enjoying something!

Song birds have been making themselves scarce lately.  This Song Sparrow showed up for a few minutes this afternoon.

and this is just a reminder of what it looked like on the first of December last year.