another dull day,

Another dull day, but at least it was mainly dry (unlike yesterday), so the dogs and I ventured over to the park....braving the mud and the little creek that never used to be there.

 for the second walk in a row, a Pacific Wren actually showed itself long enough for a quick photo

Everything looking much the same at the log bay....you can see the weather up the valley...in fact it was hailing on us from time to time.

Quite a few Bald Eagles around, in fact they were being quite active and vocal....this one protesting,

this one landing up above.

there are quite a lot of various waterfowl out there right now....

these Tundra Swan ha been resting on the bit of gravel bar that is finally reemerging...

while a number of Trumpeter Swans were with an even larger number of Common Merganser....there is also a female Mallard in this photo....lots of mallard around right now...

add to the above selection and we have a Gadwall in the lead with a couple of some sort of Goldeneye.

So nice to see the abundance and variety. 

Dull and dreary day....

 Not an inspiring day today!  A mix of rain and snow for most of the time.  We decided to give a walk at the dyke a try....

you can see how dark it was....  The thing is, there are a couple of bird species that love this sort of weather....

and here is one of them....a Pacific Wren....formerly called Winter Wren....they are often heard, have a sort of loud 2 part chirp, actually seeing them is harder, and actually getting a picture, harder still!

The other damp, dark lover is...

the Varied Thrush.  This fellow was actually over at the park....I had decided to see what the path was like...

wet and muddy....that is what it was like...it was also getting dark, after all we are only a couple of weeks from the shortest day of the year...

so here is the log bay....there were actually quite a few eagle around but not worth trying to get photos...

a lot of swans further out, this one was in close enough to try for a picture...

and the first bay....time to head home.

Goose day.....and.....

If the day before was a gull day....then yesterday was a 'goose' day

 there were large flocks of mixed Canada Geese and the smaller Cackling Geese everywhere!

both flying about and in the fields....

the Gulls were busy in the field beside the dyke....

although yesterday they were joined by some Hooded Merganser,

and today, there were some Green-wing Teal......

along with quite a few Mallard

perhaps the most interesting sight yesterday was...

seeing American Coot in this flooded yard.

I think I've mentioned that we don't see Coots in the area all that often anymore, although this year we've had them up in estuary, on Harrison Bay and now in a flooded front yard!

today was just one of those really misty days....not really raining, but not exactly dry either, like walking in a cloud.

it was actually quite busy, bird wise...saw 3 Downy Woodpeckers, like this little guy, and a larger Hairy Woodpecker.  There were lots of Chickadees and Ruby-crowned Kinglets but it was just too dark to get decent photos of such active little guys.

We'll end off with this guys....perched in the morning mist.

Gull day

 Starting to look more seasonal....

and due to the rain stopping, finally, and the cooler temperatures...

water levels have dropped to the point that you can see the path to the park starting to reappear.

fields over by Kilby are still flooded.  Today there must have been a thousand Canada Geese flying around and in the fields, along with some waterfowl.

in the field beside the dyke there was a large flock of gulls....these flocks are always fascinating to real devotees as they search for some rarity.  Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with gulls to know if there was something rare there or not!

Thought this one was interesting, partly the gull in the back that appears to be a darker grey, but also the one right in the middle with a juicy earthworm in it's bill.  I guess that is what they are feeding on.

there were a few of these little guys - used to be called Mew Gulls, now they are called Short-billed Gulls

think the one right in front is a Herring Gull, note the light coloured eye, while the one behind is the commonest species we get, the Glaucous-wing Gull.

off of Kilby beach, noticed a small flock of some sort of diving duck....

turned out to be Scaups, think the pair in the middle are Greater Scaup, not sure about the others, maybe it was a mixed flock of Greater and Lesser

not much in the way of eagles around right now.  Not sure if that is it for the season, or if they will show up again as the water levels drop down.

and just want to add this guy, this was yesterday when I heard tapping overhead in a tree right beside the railway bridge....a male Pileated Woodpecker.

Now....snow is promised for tonight....we shall see if it materializes. 

A couple of dry days....

 We are drying out!  Not back to normal yet though, by any means.  Since the dyke was still a road, yesterday we walked at the park....of course had to go the long way, it is going to be a long time before we are walking across the grasslands again...

here is the very full log bay....

and a very full log bay!

there really wasn't much around bird wise - in fact not an eagle to be seen, but this Olympic Gull was sitting on the salvage float anchored over there (Olympic seems to be the term used these days for a gull that isn't a pure anything....seems most of our gulls are 'Olympic')

a few Common Goldeneye's out there...this one a male.  A few Common Merganser as well.

and why not something sort of seasonal...

the berries of the Common Snowberry are looking very nice right now.

Today, it was back to the dyke, which is still a road, but was nice and quiet today.

in fact it was a lovely day....no wind...

Again, there wasn't a lot in the way of birds....

A Steller's Jay....

a Downy Woodpecker....

Spotted Towhee....

and Song Sparrow.....sort of all the usual.  Did see a couple of eagles, but it does make you wonder where they all go, one day they are all over and the next they are no where in sight.

and just like that, it is December

 First day of December and the rain is slowing down....

the water levels at the estuary are high, but seem to be holding steady which is a good thing, rather than rising.  You can see the weather isn't quite done with us yet, it was raining up the valley...looks like it could be snow, but with a freaky warm temperature of 15 c , it was rain.

After lunch we managed to dodge the traffic on our poor little highway (the only route into and out of the entire lower mainland at the moment) to do our usual walk over at the dyke...

the fields are wetter than they were a couple of days ago...

that pump down there is what is keeping everything more or less under control.

it was very windy over there today so there wasn't much in the way of birds to be seen, but this Pileated Woodpecker flew right towards this tree, so easy to spot....

When we headed home, we drove a little ways up beside the estuary area, and found that was where...

the eagles were hanging out.  They were everywhere, circling over head, out on the flats,

perched in trees....

and more trees....

and yet more trees!  Unfortunately that is a very narrow road with no where to pull off, not even a shoulder....so couldn't take full advantage.