Last couple of days

 Yesterday we set out for our walk, thinking the rain was letting up....

All that rain had brought water levels up again..

The heron seemed to approve as these two were busy interacting, the one in the foreground is a young one, so maybe moving in on what the other considered to be its territory.

By the time we made it to the log bay the rain was starting up again 

It was a wet, unpleasant walk back

This morning was much dryer, but not terribly exciting, about 150 eagles, only one small flock of swans flying way over and probably thousands of various ducks but most way out or far up inlets  did spot some Northern Pintail for the first time this season  

Only photo I took was this Song Sparrow

After lunch we headed over to Harrison Bay and decided to do the walk along the river  it was very quiet 

A Kingfisher was flying around, and out on those piling...

This pair of Bald Eagles

Only other item of note was 

this female Pileated Woodpecker.  You can tell it is a female as she doesn’t have the red moustache.  She was eating the fruits of the native Pacific Crabapple tree.

Walk at Harrison Bay

 This afternoon we headed over to Harrison Bay for our walk. 

It was a dreary day with some light rain from time to time but that is actually good as those sort of days often bring more activity, probably due to lack of human disturbance, which was certainly the case as for the first time since probably last February or so, we had the entire place to ourselves! 

Started out by finding this Fox Sparrow. These big chunky sparrows are only found here in winter. 

Lots of Dark eyed Junco. This one was eating the seeds of the native Rose Spirea shrub. 

A few Spotted Towhee in the blackberries as well

There had to be over a hundred and fifty swans out there today, most way over along the far shore, although some were flying around and this little family was just off the beach. 

Movement on a tree trunk turned out to be a Brown Creeper, in fact we saw two of them. These guys drop down to the base of a tree and then work upwards, searching for tiny bugs and insect eggs. 

A native Alder tree had a small flock of Pine Siskin in it, busy eating the seeds found in the cones. 

Of course there were also eagles, somewhere between 30 & 40 along the shore, but more exciting to see was a large flock, 70 or more, of these Lesser Scaup ducks as this is the first time we’ve seen them this season. There were also a few Bufflehead and Mallards were in small groups along the shore. 

 The sun may not have been shining but all in all it was a very pleasant walk!

Back in business!

 You haven’t heard from me for a while, not because there are no eagles or anything to report, but because I’ve been having ‘tech’ issues. Those are hopefully now resolved or at least another method has been acquired, so let’s get caught up!

Where to begin?

With the eagles I guess and my goodness, this has been one of the best years in a while for Bald Eagles!  This guy was just one of many enjoying lunch yesterday, which was a spectacular day!

There have also been a lot of Swans. These being Trumpeter Swans. Water levels are dropping rapidly now so they are further out and harder to see, but for a while they were hanging in right close to shore like....

Like this family with 5 youngsters, in fact there are a lot of young this year, evidence that shutting everything down and eliminating travel, definitely benefited the natural world 

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For quite a while, water levels stayed much higher than normal for the time of year, that made eagle viewing difficult as there was no where for them to sit

As water levels dropped they more than made up for it!  On this day we ‘guesstimated’ 600 in the general area.

Of course it isn’t just eagles and swans, waterfowl have been pretty amazing too

Mallard of course, in large numbers, and quite a few Gadwall (4 in this picture 3 males & a female)

A lot of Common Merganser like this female busy ‘fishing’

Goldeneyes as well, like this female.  Also in the last few days large numbers of Green wing Teal have shown up as well.

Over at Harrison Bay....

It is much the same story, lots of eagles

Making use of the log booms. We mustn’t forget the smaller birds...

Flocks of Pine Siskin are seen pretty much daily.  So far they are finding lots of natural food in the native alders so haven’t started visiting feeders.

 And of course it is a rare day you don’t at least hear a Black Capped Chickadee!

So that should bring us up to date and moving forward reports will hopefully come more regularly...I’ll leave with this guy...

Who was busy eating one of the salmon left high and dry by the receding water and was not at all disturbed as i approached within about 20 feet, leashed dog in one hand and camera in the other.

Typical November

 The last while it has been a pretty typical November.....except for the water levels....

Which remain much higher than one would want right now.

Fortunately, they are now going down again, leaving a lot of scenes like this....

the last couple of days, the Bald Eagles have really been putting on a show!  All those black dots were just a few of them.

This young one was preening, trying to get dried out I guess.

There have been a lot of various waterfowl as well....

had to have been over 50 Common Merganser yesterday, and noticed them again today.

Every year a little flock of Bufflehead spend the winter in close to our area but this is the earliest I recall them showing up.  Usually they don't appear until some time in December.

Over at Harrison Bay....

some days there are eagles perched in trees all along the path....other days, there is hardly anything to be seen.

this was one of two perched right over head one day.

some days there are a lot of Black Capped Chickadees as well.

and I caught this Belted Kingfisher one day as well.

Beautiful start to the month of November

 Well the first couple of days of November 2020 were beautiful!  Today, not so much!!!

but here is what it has looked like.....this over by the log bay...

where Bald Eagles continue to perch all around.....this one a young one.

the water levels, that had dropped down to opportune viewing levels, have come up again and I guess will be even higher after this next weather system moves on.

there continues to be lots of Salmon activity....more than in the past few years, which is a very good thing!

So much in the way of waterfowl too. Yesterday afternoon there had to be several hundred Mallards just laying soaking up the sun....

they weren't all soaking up the sun....this guy was busy eating a dead salmon.

With the higher water again, the eagles are running out of places to sit again....

this was way out across the water....at least 50 in this picture.

a good grouping in the 'eagle tree' by the viewing platform too.

over at Harrison Bay it has been pretty quiet, bird wise, there are so many boats roaring up and down the river right now with all the salmon fishermen that not much chance of seeing anything on the water and lots of people walking everywhere else.  The campground is closed now so that will be a source of bird viewing again.

there were a few Bald Eagles around, including this pair, perched in trees along the shore, but not much else.