Blog of the Plague Year(s)

 eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S76820171 Weather:  10 am:  7 C, wind W4,  2pm 9C, wind N7 Tide:  12m:  3.5m, rising A late start to my visit to the Estuary this morning.  It seems I've had a sleep jinx this past week, and sure enough, I awoke at 1 am this morning to find I'd a leak in my hot water bottle.  Oh, damn!  Spent the next hour with my hair dryer drying my mattress, and then had trouble getting back to sleep.   Slept eventually, wakened at 8 am to a gloriously clear, warm day.   The blackberry thicket along the path was alive with songbirds, delighting in the day after a stretch of dark and wet mornings.   There had been a downpour yesterday evening and night, starting just as I left the supermarket with the week's shopping.  Paths were very boggy today, and many people had been drawn out by the sunshine to take a walk.   I overheard walkers lamenting their wet feet.  Bound to happen....

 eBird data  https://ebird.org/checklist/S76684113  Weather:  8 am  -1C wind calm,  12 m 7C, wind SSE 8kph Tide:  10 am 3.1m, rising An interesting night--things going bump and crunch at about 2:30 as --not Santa and his reindeer--a bear raided my neighbour's garbage bins.  I got up and put my porch light on, which seems to have scared him off.  I was happy to find my garbage intact, later in the morning, but he'd raided a few other bins.  Not exactly restful.  I always know they're out there.   I don't understand why they're bothering with garbage when there's a river full of yummy salmon no distance at all away.  I'm afraid we're developing "urban bears."     I got back to sleep eventually, wakened at 6:30 to see that it was relatively clear outside, despite a gloomy weather forecast.    I have a good view of fir trees out my kitchen window.  There is often a bird on top of one of the trees, vary...

 eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S76606777 Weather:  8 am 2C, wind  W5,  12m  7C, wind W2 Tide  10 am 3.7 meters, rising. Despite an ominous forecast of intermittent rain, I set out.  It was chilly but with not much wind, 2 Celsius isn't really that bothersome.  The only discomfort I'm finding is cold and compressed toes in my gumboots.  If I wear warm socks, the boots are just a bit too snug, and tight boots are cold boots, as I learned in my cross-country skiing days.  I think I'll seek out a pair of felt innersoles.  In addition to grocery stores, pharmacies, a post office, and two boozers, there is an excellent shop selling outdoor and work wear very near here.  I'd be ready to bet they sell good boot liners.  Worth a try.    The path by the houses that leads into the Estuary were a-twitter with juncos and siskins.  It's remarkable how noisy a dense patch of blackberries can be.  The p...

 eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S76508208 Weather:  8am 0C, wind WSW 3kph, 12 m 7C wind ESE 6kph Tide:  10 am 4.7m, falling Now sitting as a stew simmers in my grandmother's dutch oven. The aroma is quite enticing.   The morning started out frosty, but warmed quickly.  Again, a big tide and boggy paths.   Morning light quite lovely.  The remaining leaves by the pond were highlighted against the grey.  Snow is starting to build up on the Arrowsmith massif. The morning sunlight had faded to grey by the time I took my coffee break on the bench overlooking the shore, but the day was calm and lovely.  I can't think of a finer venue for a coffee ...     It always varies, with the tide, the weather, and the visiting birds.    Today wigeons abounded offshore. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see that one of the ducks in a row is a Eurasian wigeon.  He seems to fit in fine with his American cousi...

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S76411874 Weather:  8am 3C, wind SE9;  12m 7C SE4 Tide:  8am 4.5 m, 12m 4.4m Rain was forecast yet again for this morning, but when I awakened, I could see Venus shining to the southeast.  The morning was relatively clear, and chilly. It was an interesting morning.  It is described in the media as a “king tide,” although as I read about it, those tend to be spring tides.  That said, 5 meters is a high tide and the paths of the Estuary were wet, this morning. In any case, this was the first morning that I could visit the Estuary in some days.  So I set out.. When I set out, there was evidence of a bear rummaging the garbage cans in the neighourhood, and bear tracks and scat on the trail, not really recent but enough to keep me alert.   Trails were flooded from the high tide--I had worn my gumboots and was glad I had because there was about a foot of water at times.     I was curious at first t...

 eBird data unavailable--server is under maintenance Weather:  Torrential rain and wind all morning, cleared around 4pm Tide:  "King Tide"  4 PM, 4.2 M, rising November has always seemed like the month for ugly weather on the BC coast, and the past few days certainly have measured up to that attribution.  There was wet now forecast the night before last, which didn't materialise, but the wind was dramatic and there were intermittent downpours until late afternoon yesterday.   Then it became quite lovely:    I don't really understand why people think they improve the beach by building these silly cairns and superglueing them together, but there they are, in big numbers.  Still, I think the sea and the clouds are quite wonderful.   After my episode with the "mystery bird" on the 16th, I brought my camera along and sure enough, she (as seems to be the case) was still on the beach.  I gather many birders have been very excited by the li...

 eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S76339579 Weather:  10 am 7C wind ESE 9kph,  12m  7C wind ESE  (Wind warning for Parksville on the Canada Weather website, yet to materialise) Tide:  10 am 3.7 m, 12 m 3.1m Forecast of wet snow at sea level (i.e., here) this evening.  It's currently raining heavily and very dark. I didn't get away to the Estuary at my usual time this morning.  I was expecting a delivery on an online order, which still hasn't materialised.  Having collected my gumboots, which had been on the Prevost farm, I realised that they are REALLY hard to get out of.  So I ordered a boot jack from Amazon.  There is one on Prevost, which I've always used.   I hope it shows up.   Anyhow, by the time I realised I wasn't going to get a boot jack, the weather had begun to look very ominous and the wind warning made me uneasy about wandering in the woods.  I've had one near miss from a falling maple recent...

 eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S76250967 Weather:  8 am 0C, wind WSW 2kph;  12m 7C ESE 10 Tide:  10 am 2.6m High cloud at 8 am, darkening as the day wore on The morning began with a wind warning, but a calm and bright morning.  There was frost throughout the Estuary.     A golden-crowned sparrow was feeding on the crabapples.       The Arrowsmith massif and the mountain tops to the north are showing more snow.   It was a relatively quiet morning birdwise -- for the first time there was a northern pintail on the Pond, but too distant to get a particularly useful photo.   The far shore was distant, with the low tide.  There were flocks of mallards and gulls and eagles, both mature and young, busily harassing them. A flock of about 100 siskins moved into the tree near my bench.   It was calm, and although cold, the day felt mild.  I've always loved the transitions of seasons and today ...

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S76090232         Weather:  8 am 0C, wind calm.  12 m 6C, wind WNW 7kph        Tide:  8 am 2 metres, 12m 4.2 metres Although the weather office temperatures looked colder this morning, the absence of wind left the weather feeling much more comfortable. Having written yesterday that I'd been misled by weather warnings for the Malahat (the stretch of highway connecting Victoria with the rest of the Island) when I looked at the mountains to the west this morning, the snow level had been low, and it's likely that I would have met up with some weather.  I took a photo, but for some odd reason it didn't turn out.   It was, in fact, a quiet day, birdwise.     I was happy to see the hooded mergansers back on the pond--in fact, three quite handsome males and one female.   There were three very tame deer on the path and then at the end of the lake.  One youngste...

 eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S760566864C Weather:  9 am:  4C  wind SSE 4kph;  1PM 6C wind ESE 15, gusts 27 kph Tide:  9:30 am 3.3m, rising It is possible that I'm going into hibernation.  I was in bed and asleep by 9:30 last night and, although I typically waken at 6 am, I awoke at 7:30 this morning.  I had slept through the whole night, which is unusual.   It seemed very cold on arising.  The Weather Office said it was 3, and there was no frost, but it felt quite chilly.   I had arranged to visit friends in Victoria today, but there was a forecast (which hasn't materialised) of snow on the Malahat, so we postponed.   In fact, I found I was reluctant to set out on my morning circuit of the Estuary.  It just didn't look inviting out there.   Still, I set out, and it was one of the better days I've had, despite the fact that I had recurring thoughts of cream of tomato soup and toasted cheese....

 eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S75953491 Weather:  8 am:  4C;  12 m:  7C Wind:  8 am WNW 14kph;  12m:  WNW 20, gusts 40 Tide:  8 am 3m;  11 am 4.6m Cloudy, clearing by mid-day I heard surf last night.  This is perhaps not strange, but the Georgia Straits, or Salish Sea, on the shore of which Parksville sits, is typically much calmer than the west coast of Vancouver Island, and enough surf to be heard in the night is uncommon.   It wasn't very birdy this morning.  There was a bald eagle carrying a duck from the shore to the forest--no doubt a breakfast. As the foliage thins, nests in the various shrubs near the paths become evident.  I don't know whose nest this was, but perhaps the spring will tell. Another harrier encounter.  I'm glad they've agile flyers.  As I was walking along a narrow path between wild rose bushes and other dense vines, a harrier came at me, flying low (eye level)....