12 December 2020

 eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S77395686

Weather:  Mild, overcast.  Wind calm.  19Canadian Weather office data unavailable

Tide:  10 am 3.3m, rising


My first time back in the Estuary after 6 days off my feet.  Something strange had happened to my little toe on my right foot, which sounds trivial, but little toes are critical for balance, and whatever I'd managed to do left me hobbling and in pain.
 
Now largely recovered, and yesterday's walk was relatively painless.  
 Nearly a week away and winter had advanced.  
 
The snow had moved well down the mountains to the west.
 
 

Although it was overcast along the coast, there were breaks in the cloud that left new snow gleaming on the forested slopes.
 
There were two hooded mergansers on the pond beyond the bridge, but too distant to get anything like a photo.  The deciduous trees around the pond are now completely bare, with the exception of one persistent aspen, but the osiers and willows are starting to show colour on their branches.  
 

 
After my drive up-island in search of swans, which wasn't very productive, the two trumpeters that flew over at the beginning of my walk yesterday delighted me.  I still feel that "trumpeter" is a misnomer--they're not brassy enough to be trumpets.  French horn would be more accurate, although I'll confess that "French hornist swans" sounds kind of odd.
 
The tide was well out.



 Strange to relate, there wasn't a wigeon to be seen, after huge flocks the week before.  Abundant mallards, and various other waterfowl (all too distant to photograph).  Enough to keep the resident eagle population occupied in harassing them.  



 The river is actually down a bit, which I found surprising after the amount of rain that has fallen lately.  Another birder I chat with now and then told me he'd seen the dipper upstream but I didn't see it this visit.  Still, the river has definitely re-arranged itself after the rain and --in all likelihood--snowmelt of the past days.

A cloudy, soft, sort of day.  Not wildly birdy but a good walk, and I'm reassured that my toe is behaving itself.

Forecast is for mostly cloudy but dry tomorrow.  Another day for the Estuary. 


 
 

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