11, 13, 14 October


11 Oct

eBird data:   https://ebird.org/checklist/S95993526

weather:  8 am 6C wind W 7, 11:30 am 9C wind WNW 9 partly cloudy

Tide:  10 am 4.4m, rising

13 Oct

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S96083340

weather:  8:30 am 5C wind SW 4,  12:00m 9C, wind N 4, increasing cloud

tide:  10:30 am 3.4m, rising

14 Oct

eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S96123492

weather:  9 am 9C, wind SE 10,  12m 9C, wind ESE 17, cloudy

Tide:  11 am 3.1m, rising


A week of variable weather. 

Sun and mist in the early hours of Monday morning 



But gradual clouding over.  Somehow I managed to evade rain every morning, even though the days have become wet.  

There were very high tides on the 11th and 13th.


The migrant ducks are becoming abundant.  Much quacking from the mallards, and squeaking from the wigeons.



The snow on the mountains in the interior of the Island has persisted as the weather has remained chilly.

The river is now flowing quite high, and the foliage is increasingly splendid.


On the morning of the 13th, a dipper was fishing diligently on the gravel bank.


He caught this small fish, and then did the classic  dipper tenderising trick of smacking it on the rocks.  He was joined by a second dipper and the two of them flew off into the roots and grass along the bank.  I need to become quicker at photographing the activity.  

On the 14th the pond began to show duck activity:


...Four mallards, two female hooded mergansers, and the pied-billed grebe who has been hanging out with the mallards.

(I watched a workshop recently on low-light photography and have tweaked the settings on my camera--unfortunately I've yet to get the tweaking just right.  I'll persist, since most of my days will be low light for the coming months.)

As usual, I checked out the gravel bar and braided flow where the dippers usually hang out.  There was a rather ill-tempered looking female common merganser ...


...and one of the dippers, busily hunting in the river

I was shocked to see the merganser chase the dipper upstream.  Given the size difference, it really didn't seem indicated.  According to the Birds of the World website, a female merganser weighs somewhere between 898 and 1170 grams this time of year, dippers between 51 and 61 grams.  Just not a fair contest.  I've no idea what had the merganser so angry.  

I really must get faster at photographing strange episodes like that one.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

8-10 August

Image
  I find myself wondering if I'm becoming a party poop in my old age.  My home, across from a community park, near the sea and an estuary, is a delightful place to live--most of the time.  August is the exception.  It's not the climate, although we do get a few toasty days, but the annual Beachfest, which attracts hordes of visitors.  The nadir of the event is the Rock the Park weekend, when there's incessant VERY LOUD pop music.  In previous years, I've found it hard to escape and  tiresome.   This year, I decided to spend the weekend at Cluxewe, my favourite campground, up-Island by Port McNeill.  It was a good choice. I left early Friday morning, driving north by the Oceanside Route--there's a faster inland highway, but the slower route is pleasant and has good spots to stop, eat lunch, enjoy the view.  It's consistent with a decision to seek quiet.   I knew Cluxewe would be busy, but it's set up in such a way that it h...
Read more

6 July

Image
  Summer has definitely arrived in the Hamilton Forest and Wetlands.   The distinctively warm light on the vegetation signals the change. The huckleberries are ripening, and are more abundant than I've seen in past years. The very durable foamflower continues to bloom. Although described as common, ghost pipe hasn't been evident in the Forest for the past three years.  This year there is an abundant patch of it near the path. Pojar and MacKinnon file ghostpipes under their heading, "Oddballs," and indeed they are.  As the photos show, the plant has no chlorophyll, gaining its nourishment from mycelium beneath the ground.  It typically appears in a spell of warm weather after a rain--not so in this case--it's been warm and dry.  They seem to be abundant this year; reports and photos are appearing throughout the region. This big trillium is fruiting, its flowering completed.   Two other, smaller, younger, trilliums are visible in the photo abov...
Read more

Two days up-Island

Image
  A somewhat fleeting trip up-Island to explore Alert Bay and attend the T'sasala Cultural Group's final public performance of the season.  There was a lot to see in that brief time. We made our way up, first along the Island Highway, then shifted to the Inland Island Highway to avoid the traffic of Courtenay and Campbell River.  Past Campbell River the highway narrows, and there are many signs warning drivers of elk and other wildlife on the highway.  We didn't see any elk, and the highway was, for the most part, sparsely travelled.  It appeared as though the tourist season is waning. I had misread the ferry schedule from Port McNeill to Alert Bay, but as is often the case, the ferry itself was running late.   We were able to spend time at the dock, where we admired the view across Broughton Strait of Mount Waddington and the Coast Range. We were also impressed by the drinking fountain along the quay, which accommodates both humans and dogs. Arriving ...
Read more