I suppose all the rain helped....but this morning it was obvious....
the water is rising. Here is the first bay....
and here is the log bay.....and notice on the piling...
we've had herons and eagles and now we have Canada Goose on a piling.
lot's and lot's of Tree Swallows on pilings too.
so now it has begun, we will see how fast it happens....all depends on the weather!
Will it ever stop raining! Have managed a few walks the last few days, no such luck today as it has just bucketed down all day.
The theme stays pretty much the same.....
the water levels are rising.....ever so slightly....and despite the cool weather, the trees continue to leaf out...
and even to flower, like this Pacific Choke Cherry - problem is the bee's need these flowers and the flowers need the bees but bee's aren't out in all this wet weather.
The birds continue preparing for nesting season as well...
this female Red-wing Blackbird was gathering nesting materials the other day....
as was this American Robin, and notice the White-crowned Sparrow in the foreground....more and more of these little guys are showing up.
mustn't forget the cavity nesters either....zoom in on that tree in the middle....
that is a European Starling head sticking out of that particular nest hole.
Something of interest was spotting....
Trumpeter Swans out on Harrison Bay on the 11th of the month (in fact were there yesterday, the 12th as well). Very late for swans to still be this far south.
also seen the same day was this little Cackling goose (lower left).....mixed in with a small flock of Canada Geese. There are now 2 geese on nests on pilings, the one that has been there for a couple of weeks now, and another on the north side of the bridge....and speaking of geese, nesting and.......
some people just don't 'get it'. In the above photo, taken yesterday evening, you can just make out a pair of Canada Geese in the middle of the left of the picture - they had already been flushed from near Morris Valley Road by one of 4 dogs that had been turned loose to raise havoc at the estuary. Look in front of the dark log in the middle....there is another dog there....and look at the log on the extreme right of the photo ....notice the dog there....these 2 are closing in on the already disturbed wildlife.
One could perhaps plead ignorance on behalf of the dogs owners, except that several concerned owners around the area have already spoken to these particular people. This incident has been reported to the Wildlife Management people who promise at least signage in the near future.
A fairly pleasant day on Friday....
so we did another walk over at Harrison Bay. Water is definitely creeping up, ever so slowly.
The numbers of American Robins continue....but what was really noticeable were the number of Northern flicker.
they seemed to be everywhere.
another here....
another member of the woodpecker family....
were a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers. This one being the male (you can just make out the red 'mustache' markings....
and this, the female....
One of the pileated was on the left tree and the other on the 2nd from right. There were also Tree Swallows flying about these trees which show the importance of leaving damaged trees alone as they are needed for the numerous species of cavity dwelling birds.
Another White-crowned Sparrow was spotted, bringing the total seen to 2....
a number of Song Sparrow...
a sunning Spotted Towhee.....
and this had to be a mating ritual with this European Starling presenting nesting materials with much fluttering of it's wings.
Today has been a washout....fortunately we got out for a walk yesterday before the monsoon arrived....
spotted this guy - a Sharp-shin Hawk.....in fact there have been a number of little raptors around the last little while,
I'd seen this one, which I think is a Merlin - it was definitely of the falcon family....the day before. Probably due to the masses of Dark Eyed Junco hanging out right now.
the most notable sighting yesterday though was....
the first White-crowned Sparrow of the season....found in the same spot where they have nested for at least the last couple of years.
Nesting seems to be the theme right now...
pretty sure that is a crows nest....
while this female Red-wing Blackbird was working on this nest. The goose was on her nest on the pilings out in the river.
the European Starlings are certainly in nesting mode too although this group was hanging out together, while other pairs were up in the near by trees. Starlings are cavity nesters like so many other birds.
another first sighting were Dandelions.....there were quite a few in flower, where our last visit there had been none. Such a welcome sign! Now if we'd only get some sunshine.
Today was a bit better day in the weather department although it was very chilly first thing this morning....
and with fresh snow half way down Mt. Woodside, it is easy to see why! Only managed a short walk this morning but....
the Northern Flicker sightings continued....this one was at the boat launch, didn't get a good look at it but you can just make out a red 'V' on the back of the head, which means it is either a female yellow-shafted, or an inter-grade.
At home, finally had a....
Purple Finch show up at the feeder. Unfortunately it has a problem with one of it's feet. I can't remember the name of this particular malady but I know it has been a problem with finches for a while now.
After lunch we made it over to Harrison Bay....
when we first got there the sun was shining and there were birds and bird sounds everywhere, then a large dark cloud moved in and things quieted....we think the water levels have risen slightly out there...
American Robins continue to be everywhere - well over a hundred in the area.
the Northwestern Crows are pairing up, this one was being very vocal about something.
and speaking about pairs....the Bald Eagle pair were flying about and perching near the nest, like this one....
while this one landed at the nest.
Settled on a nest already is this....
Canada Goose.
while there were others nearby but the large groups seem to have thinned out and moved on. Should mention there was one pair of Trumpeter Swans still in the fields.
there were a couple of male Red-wing Blackbirds having a fight, probably over this female. It is that time of the year after all.
Well, now it is April and it still isn't getting any better!
this was the scene this morning.....Happy Chilly Easter! Actually the last day of March was quite pleasant....too bad it couldn't last longer than a day.
It seems everything is happening at least a couple of weeks later than normal - with the weather, not surprising I guess. Saw the first Rufous Hummingbird on the 30th of March and the interesting thing was, it was a female. Normally the males arrive about a week ahead of the females. On the 31st I saw the first male....and there has been one around today.
Another first sighting on the 31st, and seen again today was a Ruby Crowned Kinglet. Haven't managed a picture yet
Did get a very distant photo of this.....
a Turkey Vulture. We've been seeing them for about a week now. Also there has been an Osprey seen off and on.
another interesting thing today, besides the dozens and dozens and dozens of Dark Eyed Junco, had...
had at least 3, possible 4 different Northern Flickers at my feeders today. This one appears to be a male Red-shafted....
while this one, although it doesn't show in the photo....was at least a yellow shafted inter-grade.
this one is a female Red-shafted....
while this is definitely a male inter grade between the yellow and red shafted....it has the red 'mustache' of the red-shafted, but the golden yellow of the yellow shafted.
besides showing what a delightful day it was weather wise, this shows that the water levels are still very, very low.
