31 October 2020

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S75654617 

Weather:  Clear, patchy frost early, 8 am 1C, wind calm, noon 10 C, E 10 kph.  

Tide:  Falling--4 m at 8 am, 3m at 11 am

Very calm early morning.  Mergansers seem to have left the pond.  The light was kinda magic.

 

 There are flocks of hundreds of pine siskins in the Estuary this past week.

They feed on the seeds in the Douglas fir cones.

 

One of my least favourite birding moments is when I meet up with folks on the trails (here or anywhere) and they see my binocs and camera and ask me, usually loudly, "Have you seen anything interesting?"  My usual answer is, "It's all interesting," but lately I've made the mistake of telling them what I've found interesting.  Today it was, "Oh YES!  There's an American Dipper down at the gravel bars in the river, and he's singing his little lungs out and feeding on salmon eggs that I guess have washed down from the spawning area upstream."  ...and then the folks kind of edge away and their eyes glaze.  Oh well.  Today I added,  "I'll let you know when there's an emu!"  They laughed. 

But yes, I do find the dipper simply wonderful and today he put on quite a  show:

Making his way into the river and coming up with a yummy salmon egg...

 

And then singing...Amazing what a dipper can do vocally.  Just a recital of different notes and snatches of song.  I'd not expected such a performance in the autumn, but it was delightful.  I stood listening for almost 20 minutes.  I wonder if there's another dipper around to benefit from his performance.  I hope so, although it's not really the season for that sort of thing.  Maybe he was just happy about the salmon eggs.

 And so back home to pancakes.  Watching the bird feeding seems to have put an edge on my appetite.  Didn't do much for my singing, unfortunately.