5, 6, 10 November

5 November

 eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S97161766

weather:  9 am 6C, wind WNW 5,  12 m 9C wind NW 4, initially cloudy, then brilliantly clear, then rain

tide:  10:30am 3.4 m, falling

6 November

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S97208176

weather:  8:30 am 3C, wind SSE 4, 12m 7C, wind W5, cloudy

tide:  10:30 am 4.1m, falling

10 November

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S97401527

weather:  8 am 0C, wind calm, 11 am 8C wind ESE 8, patchy frost, clear

tide:  9 am, 4.4 m, rising

5 November

I was awakened at 6 am by a torrential downpour.  I went back to sleep, thinking, "Oh well, not a morning for birding."

Arose at 7:30, to clearing skies.  In fact a glorious morning.  More or less organised myself and headed out to see what was out in the Estuary, birdwise.

A splendid young Cooper's hawk, apparently drying his wings after the morning's downpour.  

The skies cleared to glorious blue.

The merganser pond was brilliantly clear, but alas, void of mergansers.

The morning light illumined the foliage.

The Straits were at mid-tide, and gradually, the sky clouded over again.

The widgeons were abundant and noisy.

By the river, the Eagles were abundant.

As the weather closed in once again, a shot of an eagle silhouetted against the sky.

A forecast for intermittent weather tomorrow.  Time will tell.

6 November

A grey morning, dry but ominous.  One of those days when I made it home before the downpour--always a satisfying moment.

A very high tide and full river, and the fields of the Estuary were flooded.

There was a great commotion of mallards, and smaller numbers of widgeons and Canada geese.

I had anticipated snowmelt on the mountains, but instead the snow level has dropped considerably.  It has now turned chilly.

It was, in fact, one of the quietest mornings (apart from ducks and eagles) that I can recall here.  I don't know why this was the case, but there were even low numbers of juncos and towhees, which are usually here in big numbers.

This is still mid-tide--

It looks as though the eagles have completed their construction project.  There are now lots of them around, and scraps of salmon lying about.  I gather there there are starting to be spawned out fish along the shore.  

The young igs are moving in, as well as adults.  

Tomorrow is forecast to be rainy and windy.  Possibly a good day for domestic chores.

10 November

After several days of nasty, grey, wet, windy weather.  I'm minded of the Scots word "driech,"  --nasty, grey, wet, windy weather.  I notice that the write-ups for Cop26 are starting to include vocabularies for nasty weather.  Not really surprising.

This morning, though,  was splendidly sunny.  I made my way to the Estuary in my truck, because I had an appointment for an immunization at mid-day, and needed to keep my time short.  

The river remains high, and swift, and bits of melted snow carried downstream.

To my delight, after several days of inactivity on the Nest Construction Front, I spotted an eagle carrying a largish stick in her (?--probably--a very big eagle  working at construction is likely female)  talons.  And sure enough, she (?) settled in on the nest and began working at the nest.   It was tricky to photograph as the sun was almost exactly behind the nest, still, here she is:

It's not really clear, but I'm quite sure she (probably?) has a stick in her beak in the lower photo.  

The tide was rising to its peak, 

with lots and lots of ducks, mostly widgeons, but also a pair of very elegant northern pintails.

I was on time for my vaccination--just, although people in the pharmacy seemed to eye my jeans, the bottoms of which were quite soggy, and my muddy hiking boots, dubiously.  (As the Russians used to say, according to my Uncle Case, "Tuffski.")   Rain and wind forecast for tomorrow.