13, 14 August

13 August

eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S93171684

weather:  6:30 am 17C wind W2,  11 am 27C wind NNE10, smoky

tide:  9:30 am 3.8m, peak tide, turning


14 August

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S93216082

weather:  6:30 am 16C wind S2, 10:30 am 25C wind  E 11, smoky

tide:  9 am 3.3m, rising


It seems the smoke from the fires in the Interior has made its way to the Island.  We've had red sunrises, and haze throughout the days.  It's a disturbing reminder of what is happening elsewhere and what could happen here.


There is a lot of very dry foliage.



    Walking up to the observation mound, I heard what I thought was a sapsucker--their drilling tends to be more rapid than most other woodpeckers.  I looked carefully -- I know there are sapsuckers in the Estuary, but I haven't seen them often.  I never did find the bird, but:


There are two great horned owls in the above photo.  From their sizes, I'd guess that one is one of the spring hatch and the other, much bigger, is a parent.  (I don't know how to distinguish males and female among owls--the female is bigger, but when there's just one, that doesn't really take me very far.)  The parent was in dense foliage and I never could manage a photo, but junior was fairly obliging.


In fact, I'm not sure I would have found the elder owl had Junior not gazed upward from time to time.  


It occurs to me that this must be an utterly terrifying last sight for small rodents.  

There were high tides both mornings.  The plume of smoke is quite visible in this photo.


The black-bellied plovers were on their sandbar, well offshore, in company with three oystercatchers.


There were also two flocks shorebirds that I couldn't identify, but which leave me thinking that we are moving into the autumn migration.

The weather forecast includes a 60% chance of rain for Monday.  It's hard to type with crossed fingers...

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