14, 16 17June

14 June

 eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S90187178d

weather:  7 am 12C wind S8, scattered cloud, 12 m 18C E 11, clearing

tide:  9:30 am 3.4m, falling

16 June

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S90283974

weather:  7 am 12C wind SE 5, 12m 17C wind ENE 11, clearing

tide:  9:30 am 3.6m, falling

17 June

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S90331962

weather:  7 am  12 C wind calm, 11 am 18 C wind E 10

tide:  9:30 am 3.3m, rising

Memo to self:  keep lens cloths in plastic baggie when you go out.  They're no durned use at all when they're soaked.  

Three days of improving weather.   The 15th was wet, and although I did get out for a walk, it was not a day for photos.  I spent most of it crouched under a cedar tree near the Merganser Pond.  Not really unpleasant, nice fragrances of forest, but neither birdy nor photogenic.

That said, the 14th produced some wonderful cloud formations.  

The lesser Gulf Island and the Mainland were clouded.  

There was a definite threat of thunderstorms, and sure enough, by late afternoon we had what my Dad used to call a "Goose drownder," a violent rainfall.  I was happy to note that it waited until I was safely home.  

As I sat, drinking my coffee and counting geese (not many other shorebirds in evidence these days), two band-tailed pigeons flew up and roosted on nearby logs.

And that was pretty much the 14th.  By the time I was in the final homebound km, the overgrowth had largely dried up.  A VERY chatty walking group made their way ahead of me, which was nice, as it cleared the wet foliage and cobwebs.  I don't exactly understand the point of walking in the "wildness and wet," (thank you Gerard Manley Hopkins) while talking the hind end off a horse, but then again, there's a lot of stuff I don't really understand.  Oh well.

16, 17 June

I find myself wishing that I understood the language of ravens, and that I was more skilled at using the video capacity on my phone and my camera.  These two days were highlighted by two ravens, having long conversations with a very developed vocabulary--and flying together in quite amazing aerobatics--locking beaks in mid-air, barrel rolls, dives, none of which I managed to film.  I hope they continue to hang out together in the Estuary and that I can manage to get some photos and recordings.  

The weather has definitely shifted to summer and the fields and clouds reflect that.

On the 16th there was still a threat of thunderstorms, heralded by clouds over the Gulf Islands and Coast Range.  The threat materialised in a series of violent rain squalls in the afternoon, which I was content to watch from indoors.

By the 17th, the weather had dried up and was almost hot.  The fields are drying, and stands of golden grasses are emerging.

The 17th was also a day for bird photos, starting with a covey of quails, fortunately in a relatively open area of the overgrown path.  Not the covey, but the alpha quail, I think.

Handsome bird, isn't he?

Further into the Estuary, there's been a peregrine falcon hanging about, antagonising the crows and ravens.  I managed two shots that please me and I think do justice to the very striking (pun unintended) bird:

Photographers are advised against shooting photos with the subject backlit by the sun, but sometimes it works.  This guy's front feathers are highlighted and with careful setting, the back and head came quite clear.   He looks as though he's a bit fed up with me and my camera and in fact flew off shortly after this photo. 

And finally, the family of flickers (say six times rapidly?) that I've been following for some weeks now have two juveniles showing in their nest cavity.  The youngsters were calling loudly as I walked by -- probably demanding brunch?  This is the juvenile female--there is also a male, but I didn't manage a good photo of him yet.