17 December 2020

 eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S77602647

Weather:  8 am 6C, wind WNW 2;    1 pm 8C wind 

Tide:  12m 4m,  turning.  High tide 8am 5m

 An interesting morning.  After a wet and windy and generally nasty day yesterday, I awoke to drizzle at 6:30.  By 8 am it was starting to clear and it became a beautifully clear day.  

The high tide was the biggest tide I've seen here, and that, and heavy rain, resulted in lots of water in the fields of the Estuary.

 


This photo was taken out of the back of the mobile home park--until just recently it was grasslands.  

 

The pond had grown:

 

My usual route was impassable--or at least paths were flooded to within an inch of the top of my gumboots, so I gave up and re-routed. 

There was heavy snow on the mountains west of here, but it's warmed up the past day and the river is now very high with muddy snowmelt.

 


I had walked the trail to the river in reverse of my usual route, to see what the weather and snowmelt had brought.  The river was louder than I'd ever heard it

Heading back to the path to the shore, I had what was for me a wonderful encounter.  Two pileated woodpeckers were in the woods.  Initially the sun shone so brightly behind them that the crest of the first one I saw looked like flames.  (Dammit,  I didn't manage quite the effect--the bird was really close and I didn't manage the adjustment quickly enough--but--)

Here she is--not quite as striking as I'd hoped.  And then I went a bit nuts and spent the next hour taking pictures of Ms. Woody and eventually her mate.  (Yes, pileated woodpeckers are monogamous, with infrequent lapses.)

So here follows a series of Ms. Woody (note that the stripe along her cheek is white, while Mr. Woody has a red stripe) photos.  I'm not entirely satisfied but it was an interesting exercise in photographing what I think of as an interesting bird.  And I think she has quite expressive features.


I like the expression on this one, although I've never seen a photo of a pileated woodpecker from this angle.  Nu?




Then I guess she got tired of my hanging about and joined her mate--


And after an hour or so, I went back to the trail along the river, and eventually made my way to the shoreline and my coffee and cookies.

Once again, the shore was teeming with wigeons.  The tide wasn't as high as it had been, but it was well up. 



I managed a not very good photo of an Eurasian wigeon and a green-winged teal, neither very common in these parts. 


And braved the elements as the tide was down and sloshed my way home to a late lunch.

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