Blog of the Plague Year(s)

17 August eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S117106061 weather:  8 am 21C wind NW 9, 12m 25C wind WNW 16 tide:  10:30 am 3.8m, peak, falling 19 August eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S117223269 weather:  8:30 am 20C wind NNW 8, 1:00 pm 21C wind NNE 5, cloudy, then clearing, very humid tide:  11 am 3.3m, rising 22 August eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S117402156 weather:  8 am 18 C wind SW 12,  12:00 21 C wind WNW 15, cloudy, then clearing tide:  10:30 1.6m rising A not very birdy patch, with a couple of unpleasantly hot and humid days.  That said, some beauty, and (no photos) a very educational and physically challenging weekend. 17 August The fields are full of Puget Sound gumweed, an inelegant name for a beautiful flower. There are many more of them this year--actually almost all vegetation is more abundant.  Growing up in the Sacramento Valley, there was a similar plant we called "tarweed," also sti...

6 August  eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S116445079 weather:  8:30 am 19C wind NW 15,  12:30 22C wind NW 14, cloudy, then clearing tide:  10:30 2.5m rising 8 August eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S116565181 weather:  8 am 19C wind WNW 11,  12:00m 21 C wind NNW 7, sunny tide:  10:30 am  1.1 m rising A waxing moon and very low tides.   Clear weather, mild, not hot.  Unlike the previous posting, not many offshore birds, but there are beginning to be flocks of songbirds. Six goldfinch, the males very bright.   The riverbank is accessible once more after the disruptive work intended to make the salmon migration more successful and to restore the effects of last winter's atmospheric rivers.   The flock of young mergansers has almost grown up.  They were swimming along together, fishing happily. They appeared to be catching what I'd think were salmon fry.   This week will be bu...

1 August  eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S116164352 weather:  8 am 20C wind WSW 5, 12:00m 21C wind NNW 8 cloudy clearing to sunny tide:  10:00 am 3.3m, falling 2 August eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S116227304 weather:  8 am 17C wind NNW 9, 12:00 m 20C wind NNW10, clearing tide:  10:00 am 3.6m, falling 3 August eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S116280264 weather:  8:30 am 17C wind SW 2,  12:00m 18C wind E 11  cloudy tide:  10:00am 3.6m, falling 1 August An "interesting" morning--augh! that  word!  still, it was not without interest. We're now past the worst of the heat wave (we hope!), and at the beginning of August.  I've always thought, possibly just optimism, that there was a hint of autumn that could be detected in August now and then.  Certainly the skies looked autumnal this morning. There was a flock of black-bellied plovers accompanied by a pair of yellowlegs near the shor...