25, 27, 28 May

25 May

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S111268120

weather:  7:00 am 11C wind SE9  12:00m 15C wind E 11 partly cloudy

tide:  10:00 am 2.0m ebb, turning 

27 May

eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S111441593 (Shelly St. Side of Estuary)

https://ebird.org/checklist/S111441539 (Plummer Road side of Estuary)

weather:  6:30 am 10C wind SSE 4, 7:40 am 12C wind SE15  partly cloudy

tide:  8:30 am 2.2 m falling

28 May

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S111523701

weather:   8 am 12C wind SE 15,  12:30 pm 15C wind E 11 partly cloudy

tide:  11:15 am 1.1m, at ebb, turning


25 May

A relatively quiet day.  The foliage looking more like summer, and I'm going to have to acknowledge that I need mosquito spray.  



There have been very big tides lately--high around 5 metres at night, and then dropping to very low tides.



  The views of offshore birds are limited by the distance.  There have been Caspian terns, audible, but hard to discern visually.

I missed out on some of the flowering last year.  There is a big stand of vanilla leaf in full bloom just now.  It's a new species to me.


Two photos of very ordinary birds, but I'm pleased with how they've come out.


Song sparrows are very common here, and, I think, in various plumages all along the Pacific coast.  They're kind of fun to to photograph when they're singing.  


And yes, there are hordes of chipping sparrows, all breeding, so we should be up to our hubcaps in cute little red-headed birds.  

27 May

Truly one of the most glorious days I've spent in the Estuary.  I teamed up with Curtis, the naturalist from the Nature Trust, to take part in a breeding bird survey.  

We set out from the east side of the river at 6:30.  It was live with birdsong--Curtis, as I've noted before, is a very skilled ear birder, and we identified over forty species in the short walk along the shore.  I realise that I need to make my way over to the east side of the river more often--it's very beautiful.



I need to set out early as we did, as well.  Possibly because of the early hour, there were just the two of us, and I found it a very instructive time, often identifying birds by sound.  

I didn't have my bird camera with me--I wasn't sure how many of us there would be and I know that stopping for photos can be pretty tedious for other folks.  Still, I think I got some nice shots of parts of the Estuary that are usually closed to us unauthorised types.

We then made our way to my usual haunt, the west side of the river.  Initially, it was chiming with birds.  

Then, out at the point, there was a fine view of the Salish Sea.


Again, at a very low tide.  For the first time since I've been walking this shore, we saw a pod of orcas, way too distant to photograph but unmistakable.  They appeared to be hunting, staying in one place and diving for at least twenty minutes.

The rose bushes were full of an assortment of warblers.  I'll admit I wouldn't have spotted half as many without guidance.  It's the area that we've been "brooming," and I'd seen most of them, but in far smaller numbers than Curtis was able to spot.

The changed vantage of the fields was quite lovely.


There had been a forecast of rain by 11 am, which we managed to evade.  There was rain nearby, producing a fine rainbow, which looked to descend on my home!  (Nope, no pot of gold.  Oh well.)



28 May

Another morning with high points.  Somehow, I managed to oversleep until almost 7am, but got out birding by 8 o'clock.  The morning was mild, but breezy, and with a falling tide. 

I've been looking for the great horned owls since I saw them last with the shorebird count (no, I KNOW they're not shorebirds, but that was what we were supposed to be looking for), but hadn't managed to spot them.  Today as I took the path through the woods I met up with an amazingly handsome young man, with a great camera and tripod, and very soft-spoken. So comely that I considered photographing him as well as the owls.   A very nice birder,  visiting from England.    Sure enough, he'd found the owls.  They were in a somewhat different part of the woods than I'd seen them before.  In fact, I'm not entirely sure we don't have two families of new owls this year.

In any case, there was Momma Owl, looking rather drowsy.


and two very fuzzy owlets.


I couldn't find any way to photograph both of them equally clearly in the dense woods, but it's plain that the lighter one is the younger of the two.  The other one is beginning to look more fledged.  The thing is, I don't recall seeing two fledgeling owls in the pairs I've seen before this season,  and these certainly look quite young.  So I wonder if there are more than one family, which would be great.   It's interesting to me that there are such very young owls this late in the season.  By early May of last year, the young owls were nearly fully fledged.  Must check whether owls can produce twice in a season.

On my way home, there was (finally!) a black-headed grosbeak that I could actually photograph--mostly they seem to go for dense shrubbery this season.



And finally, almost at home, a big flock of band-tailed pigeons settled in an alder snag.


All in all, a satisfying couple of days.

Now, on Tuesday, off to Strathcona Provincial Park, north and central to Vancouver Island for three nights camping.  Sure enough, it looks like rain.  







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