20 September

20 September

eBird data:https://ebird.org/checklist/S94941808

Weather:  9 am 12 C wind SW 3, 12:30 m 13C, wind ENE 7, cloudy, occasional showers

Tide:  10:30 1.6m, falling

21 September

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S94983814

Weather:  8:30 am 13C wind S4,  12m 15C wind E 12  cloudy

Tide: 10:30 2.3m, falling

Two cloudy days.  A bit of rain on the 20th.  

Neither day was very birdy but both had raptor encounters and the dipper showed itself on the 20th.

I found the episode on the 20th a bit sad:


The tree is a much favoured roost for raptors.  Eagles, the peregrine all spend time there.  I gather that the view of the tidal flats and its shorebird and waterfowl population makes hunting easy.  So here is the peregrine, who isn't really a very big bird, but near him is a tiny female kestrel.  She'd started on another branch and then moved closer, almost immediately after which the peregrine flew off with her following.  Somehow it makes me think of teenybopper crushes on football heroes.  I'm totally certain that the two species don't interbreed.  

And yes, the dipper re-appeared in its usual territory.  I expect to see more of it as the salmon run picks up.


It was very busy hunting on the bottom of the river, but paused long enough to allow this photo.

The river remains high, but less muddy.  A good thing.

On the 21st I managed a few photos of a female northern harrier.  People who ought to know better insist that these birds are very rare here. It's true that they're hard to photograph, because they mostly stay in the more distant parts of the Estuary fields, or swoop past at great speed.  Still, from this time of year on, I'll see a couple almost every week.  The male is relatively small, and an elegant grey and black, and the female is quite big, and mostly brown. Both have a white patch in front of their tail--really distinctive.  To my knowledge there is no other raptor in North America with a similar marking, which makes them almost unmistakeable.  

Anyhow, here she is:



I'm headed up-Island for a few days, and am unlikely to have internet access, so a delay in blogging.




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