Swans!

 Yesterday morning a familiar call alerted us to the fact that the swans were back!

there was a total of 7 Trumpeters in the area of the log bay.  This morning there were at least twice that many.

I know most people's focus is on the eagles, but I prefer the swans.

notice, too the number of salmon.  There still isn't a lot of water, but where there is water, there are salmon.

an unusual sighting yesterday was....

a Bonaparte Gull!  

up until this morning, we've continued to see Greater Yellowlegs regularly.  Today there were none visible so whether they've moved on, or just weren't where we could see them - after all there is a lot of area out there right now...it's hard to say.

Speaking of Bald Eagles....

well their numbers are slowly increasing but seems to be much later than normal.

 

This young one was very visible this afternoon, it's calmness around both us and our dogs makes me wonder if it is the young one that was raised in the near by nest.

numbers of gulls have definitely increased!  This group are all Glaucous-wing Gulls, adults and juveniles.

Between the low temperatures and steady breeze, smaller birds weren't visible today, although...

this male Downy Woodpecker put in an appearance just as we were finishing up.

no swans on Harrison Bay yet. There were some Canada Geese in another area.

Weather is changing

 Well the weather is definitely changing.....

this was the log bay this morning.  Water levels are rising slightly, especially out on the river, and with the rising water, more salmon are making it up this far.

there are some of them this morning, close to the shoreline.

over at Harrison Bay it seemed more eagles were gathering....

in fact there were quite a few way, way out on the bay

more gulls around too, including this Herring Gull that was taking a break on the beach.

We've been noticing....

a lot more Gold-crowned Sparrows than we normally see.

and yes, there was quite the wind blowing today...

it was quite the surprise to see snow on the local hills....no wonder it was so chilly!

Not sure what this guy was doing....but it is a pretty seasonal picture.  With the cool temperatures and the wind, the leaves aren't likely to be around much longer. 

A surprise sighting

 Eagle activity has come to a bit of a lull the last couple of days, but we have been finding a few birds, including a real surprise!

Short-bill Gulls are starting to show up.  These small gulls dive for the salmon eggs, rather than being interested in the salmon themselves.

We also have one or two Ring-bill Gulls, identified by the yellow legs, eyes and ring around the bill.

there has been one lone Greater Yellow-legs Sandpiper hanging around too.

But the real surprise....

was spotting this White-throated Sparrow yesterday!  Although related to both the common White-crowned Sparrow and the Gold-crowned Sparrow, the White-throated is more common east of the Rockies.

We still have quite a few...

American Robins in the area.  This one was posed nicely in some fall foliage.

So let's end with a rainbow, seen the other afternoon.  We will see if the water levels are any higher after the current rainstorm is finished.

Finally, a few positive signs....

 The last few days, some positive signs....

a few Bald Eagles are showing up.

and the occasional salmon is managing to work it's way up the extremely shallow waters

it's not a lot - but it's a start.

of course there is usually a Great Blue Heron to be found somewhere.

We've been having fun finding...

various fungi including these Amanita that are growing on the banks of the dykes over in the Kilby area.

We'd been so busy looking at 'mushrooms' that we hadn't noticed this pair perched overhead!

noticing quite a few Anna's Hummingbirds as well.  This one is a young male.  

Tomorrow (October 14th) is another world wide bird count day so hopefully there will be a few birds to count.

Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving weekend and we are still waiting for water.....

the log bay just keeps getting dryer, and dryer....

as does the first bay.  No signs of the little springs that used to trickle into here.

We are hearing a few gulls and the occasional call of an eagle, but they are way over on the other side by the river.

Today was the first day.....

when we walked over at the Kilby side, that we saw a gull, in this case a young Glaucous-wing, eating a dead salmon - so that was a good sign....

and further along, this one, I think a Glaucous-wing cross, also eating a salmon.  As for eagles, we didn't even hear one.

it is looking like fall, with the leaves changing colour and we know there are salmon going up the Chehalis and into the fish hatchery....will try to get there in the next day or so.

As far as other birds, there are some Canada Geese flocks flying around, a few ducks at the estuary, including some Northern Shoveler, but even the regulars like Song Sparrows and Towhee are making themselves scarce right now for some reason.

An end of month update

 Time to give an update on the situation out here at the estuary.  Seems people are getting antsy to see eagles, but really it is a bit early yet.  

there are salmon out in the river, and these are in the creek leading to the fish hatchery...

but even there, there are no eagles yet.....only Turkey Vultures!  Quite a few Turkey Vultures. I don't know if this is normal or not because this is the first year we've been able to access this area on a regular basis.

back here at the estuary, things remain very dry although the rain over the last week or so is giving hope.  In reality, we don't normally start seeing the Chum Salmon here until about the middle of October.

still dry here too.

Some waterfowl do seem to be arriving though...

there were quite a few Canada Geese out on the flats this afternoon.

Earlier, during a wet walk at the dyke along the Harrison River, we could see a lot of ducks out on the far shore of the river....as far as we could tell, they were all Mallards.

At the estuary....

there were a few Cinnamon Teal, I don't recall a year when we've had Cinnamon Teal hang about for any length of time, like they are this year.

and what we dismissed as a few mallards....

turned out to be Northern Shoveler!  

Another month has gone by

 So another month has gone by and still not much of anything to report.

other than the water levels just keep dropping and the really concerning this year is that the springs that have always trickled water into this, the log bay, have completely dried up.  Never, ever, have there been plants growing in there.

same story in the first bay.

it has also been very quiet bird wise.....usually a Great Blue Heron somewhere...

like that young one.

there have also been a lot of young Cedar Waxwings.

the occasional gull is starting to show up, like this young Glaucous-wing Gull

also Shorebirds...like this Greater Yellowlegs....there certainly is enough 'shore'....but all in all it has been pretty boring.  We so desperately need rain...just not all at once!