Snow Warnings and Sapsuckers…

With the temperature still down below freezing, we now have a snow warning in effect…

and as you can see…it has started…just how much we’ll end up with, time will tell!

Despite, or perhaps because of the snow there was more bird activity than we’ve seen for a few days…

among the assorted ducks were Green Wing Teal, an American Wigeon (right at the bottom), some Mallard and a couple of female Common Merganser that didn’t make it into the picture.  Also in this area, a couple of Northern Flicker, that Belted Kingfisher and the flock of Red-wing Blackbirds.

as we started our walk, we had noticed one adult Bald Eagle in the tree by the viewing platform….it was being very vocal for no apparent reason, until it was joined by a second bird…

From their vocalization and the fact that they perched in such close proximity, I’m guessing that they are a breeding pair….wouldn’t it be wonderful if they would consider building a nest in this tree!  an unlikely scenario I guess, but we can always hope.

The most exciting find of the day was the spotting of a Red-breasted Sapsucker!!

I didn’t have a camera with me when I spotted it, so am using this file photo which also shows the feeding holes that I mentioned a few posts ago.  The Sapsucker drills these ‘well’s’ which fill with sap, then feeds, not only on the sap, but on the insects that are attracted to the sap.  These wells and the sap and the insects they collect, are also a crucial source of food for the Rufous Hummingbirds when they return – which as hard as it is to believe on a day like today, they will be doing in about 3 weeks time!

 

Sometimes these birds are mistakenly called ‘Red headed Woodpecker’ – there is such a species, but they are only found in the eastern part of the U.S.A. while the Red-breasted Sapsucker is only found here on the extreme western edge of the continent.

Sunny February Day….

Another nice sunny day, and pretty typical for the time of year…

there wasn’t a lot of activity over at the log bay…the Red-wing Blackbirds, instead of being gathered in one large group, were spread out over the entire area, as is typical as the seasons progress…

there were a few Mallard (3 in photo) and 1 female Common Merganser…busy searching under water for lunch….

There were a good number of Steller’s Jay in the area today, the ones up in the residential areas were being typically, very vocal, but there were also a total of 6 of them (2 in the above picture) that were being very quiet ~ this too is typical as these jays can be very quiet and secretive when they want to be….especially as breeding season approaches.

These guys had been down bathing and were busy preening in the sunshine.

down in the ‘bathing area’, if you look carefully, the ‘resident’ Herring Gull is on the shoreline.

it strode very purposely….

and came up with this prize!

as we were walking back, this Bald Eagle, that had been perched in the ‘eagle’ tree over looking the viewing platform…took off…and returned within seconds…with what I suspect…is the Herring Gull’s prize!

Seconds after taking this picture, another eagle arrived on the scene and chased this one away….food is obviously very scarce at the moment.

There had been no ducks in this stretch of water when we started out, but 2 flocks flew in as we were returning…here  Green-wing Teal…

and further along, Mallard with a few Gadwall mixed in….notice the feathers from that poor trumpeter swan are still on the far shore.

Morning sunshine and pussy willows

A pleasant surprise to wake up to sunshine this morning..especially after last night’s wind and rain storm!

Unfortunately, it didn’t last and by our mid-day walk we were back to cloud…

but at least is was dry although I can see now, as I write this, that it is starting to snow on the top of Mt. Woodside!

As for birds…well there wasn’t a lot of activity but as usual, if you just stop and watch…a little bit of drama unfolds..

Today this, I think Herring Gull, that seems to have taken up residence at the log bay, came swooping down and grabbed some salmon remnants out of the grass and took them to the shore…

seemingly out of no where…this Bald Eagle swooped down, chased the gull away, grabbed the Salmon bits and took off….the Gull then flew back into the grass and came out with more …which is what he has in the top picture.

There were a few ducks around, including a Goldeneye that flew in but it was too far away for me to tell if it was a Common or a Barrow’s…

What I did notice today was the appearance of some Pussy Willows…they are just starting, but a sure sign that spring is on it’s way.

Drip drying eagles

The theme for today was drying out…

it may have still been cloudy and gray, but at least the rain had stopped and everywhere you looked there were Bald Eagles ….

perched with their wings spread out in an attempt to finally get dry!

 

This was the ‘eagle tree’ down off of the golf course.

 

 

 

 

 

This adult by the log bay…

these youngsters over the viewing platform

this one in the top of a cedar tree….

another youngster by the first bay…..they were everywhere..

you could see there were lots of eagles out across the flats as well.

Steller’s Jay were the other bird of note today, there seemed to be almost as many of them as there were eagles – well not quite and they are not nearly as co-operative for picture taking!  That large flock of mixed Golden crowned Kinglet and Chestnut-backed Chickadee moved quickly through the tree tops and Towhee and Song Sparrow were calling from all directions.

Out on the water, there wasn’t as much activity.  No ducks at all at the log bay, only Mallard and these

female Common Merganser up at the other end.

Yellow-rump Warbler….

Another horrible, wet, gray day.  A Northern Harrier flew past just as we started our walk (no picture)…

noticed the ‘eagle’ tree by the viewing platform was quite well populated…spent some futile time trying to get pictures of Golden Crowned Kinglets that were feeding down in the blackberry thicket…and noticed a Fox Sparrow as well…

could hear Belted Kingfisher’s and caught sight of this male, way off…and was turning to head towards home when, like before, I caught sight of a small bird flying down into the log bay…

so, not having taken binoculars due to the wet weather, like before, I aimed my camera in the general direction. From the actions and the call it was making I was pretty sure it was a Yellow-rump Warbler…and I’ve just spent a while going cross eyed peering at down loaded pictures…(it is in the above picture, but even I can’t find it right now…will have to click on to enlarge)

and can confirm with this extremely cropped down picture – that it is indeed a Yellow-rump Warbler….

while I was taking these pictures, it flew up into the bushes at the end of the log bay….

by the time I got back to that side, it had flown down onto the rocks again - (it is in the middle at the bottom)…..I am pretty sure it is the same bird I saw the beginning of the month because I had suspected at the time that the bird was perhaps a ‘Myrtle’ rather than an ‘Audubon’ because it seems to have more white under the ‘chin’.  If it stays around long enough to get it’s breeding colours, hopefully I’ll be able to confirm that.

Heading back through the gloom noticed in this bay, not an out of season warbler…but a Bald Eagle

He seemed to have found enough salmon remnants to make a meal…not sure how nutritious since there is nothing but skin and bones left!

Another gray wet day…

Another gray, wet, and with the temperature only a couple of degrees above freezing…not very warm!  I had actually thought I wouldn’t even bother taking any pictures today, because really, how many dark gloomy pictures do you need?  But, it is a rare day when there isn’t something of interest…and so it was today.

I had been hearing a lot ‘eagle’ vocalization and as I reached the log bay, I noticed a number of them out, off of the point…

there were, in fact, quite a few Bald Eagles  (they aren’t all at the city dump! – which if you watched the news on Global TV last night, you will understand – quite an amazing spectacle!)

The young one on the stump has something…it is hard to see just what, but I think it is a fish…

There isn’t a lot of food around right now, so everyone wants a share…

The original youngster gets chased off…by another young one.

and dares it to try to come back!  Not that there appears to be much left to eat.

and today ~ snow!

So the theme of crazy weather continues….yesterday it was very wet and the warmest it has been for sometime…and today..

we have snow!  Not a lot of snow and it keeps switching back and forth from snow to rain to snow….but the temperature has been dropping slowly but steadily throughout the day although still sitting at just 0c.

The lack of ducks theme continues as well although there were 6 female Common Merganser here at the log bay…but no others…  1 Great Blue Heron here as well.

Bald Eagles on pilings, although far less in numbers than there were yesterday. 

I’m throwing this in, not because it is a great picture but because I rarely mention the Common Raven….there is at least 1 pair of Raven who live and nest in the vicinity of the estuary.  It is a rare day when I don’t at least hear them.  Today this fellow was perched in one of the trees in the boat launch area, calling to another that was up on the hillside on the west side of the estuary.

Crazy weather!

With 48 hours of steady rain you would think the weather couldn’t get much worse – but you would have been wrong – this morning was the darkest, rainiest, windiest stretch of weather I’ve seen in a long time….temperatures shot up to 7 degrees (centigrade) – the warmest it has been around here in probably at least 6 weeks.

But then…even as we started our walk…the rain stopped!  You can see the water levels have risen a bit – not surprising since it has even rained on the tops of the mountains…

For the second day in a row there were a number of Bald Eagles around the log bay and not a single duck in sight!

Every piling was starting to sport an eagle…most with their wings held out – drying….in fact there were more eagles out there today then I’ve seen in several weeks…I’d guesstimate at a hundred and fifty or so…

as we headed back…what is that?  blue sky!!

another eagle on a piling ~ might as well toss these pictures in because no telling how much longer the eagles will be around.

There had to be at least 50 of them soaring….

and a closer look at the ‘ray of sunshine’ – of course this picture not only demonstrates how attractive a clear cut area is (said with tongue in cheek), but shows how much snow has been washed off the surrounding mountains.  The forecast now calls for a cold front to move in…depending on how fast and how cold, things could get interesting if all this ‘wet’ freezes.

One last note – I did not see 1 single duck of any sort today! – not one.  There was a Great Blue Heron and 4 Trumpeter Swans flew down the Harrison…but no ducks.