20, 27, 28 December
27 December
tide: 9:00 am 5.2m, peak (king tide)
28 December
eBird stats:https://ebird.org/checklist/S124789739
Weather: 10:00 am 2C wind SSW 2, 2:00pm 8C wind ESE 6, sunny
tide: 1:00 pm 4.2m falling
A week of weather extremes, starting with unusual cold and snow. The week began with days that never made it up to 30F, and with heavy snow.
I felt fortunate to be able to walk to the supermarket and pharmacy, especially when--DAMMIT--my hot water bottle sprang a leak at 1:30 am one morning. I made my way up to the local Pharmasave, and bought the two remaining hot water bottles. They seem to have been popular items just lately.
The snowscapes were definitely unusual vantages of the Estuary, although --read on--there were more changes as the week wore on.
By Christmas Eve, the snow had abated and the weather began to warm up, but with strong winds and heavy rain. In fact, it hit unseasonable temperatures--near 60F. This was very regrettable as the snow pack we were finally starting to accumulate in the nearby mountains all washed out to sea.
26-28 December
I took some time to visit a forested area upstream from the Estuary, to take some photos of the river in spate. A group of developers want to put 800 new houses in the area. Granted, we need more housing, but building on land at least a third of which is floodplain, and along a river that seems to routinely have about ten feet of its bank collapse each year seems dubious business ethics. So, yea, I thought I'd try circulating some photos.
The assertion is that there will be a 35-metre (+/- 100 feet) set back from the river. Great. On Boxing day I went out and found that the river was at least that far above its banks
What you're seeing in these photos isn't actually the river, but flooding. The stand of fir trees at the back of the photo is the usual shore of the river.
Maybe it’s having grown up by the Sacramento River, but I just don't think this is a good place to build. I wonder if people will be able to get flood insurance.By the next day, the river had abated, despite a "king tide," of 5.1 metres. I think the snowmelt had washed through. The river was still high and swift, but nothing like it had been.
But --remember the snowscape above?--
--This is what it looked like yesterday. A couple of the mobile homes nearest the fields had some flooding under their units. I guess I'm just as glad that I didn't buy a spot with scenery, now.
28 December
Finally, a more or less normal day. In fact, quite nice. I did one last wander around the area to be developed, took a few photos of the awash floodplain and then made my way home--sorta--to my Estuary. I wondered how much of it would be flooded, and although the river was high and swift, it wasn't too dramatic.
Well, maybe not too dramatic although it did look as though about ten feet of the eastern bank had washed away, along with several big fir trees.
Alas, the beaver construction project fell victim to the weather and bank erosion. Poor guys, they'd really worked hard at setting things up, but it's almost all washed away.
What remains are two little orange stumps (left side of photo just to the right of the pale log in the water) maybe a foot high, that had been a good ten feet above the riverbank a couple of weeks back.
Really, I don't think building along the banks of the Englishman River is a great idea for anyone, regardless of species.
That said, to my considerable delight the eagles were busily working at their nest, which I'm told has been there for at least 15 years. I guess it's in a relatively solid spot.
What we see here,
is Dad bringing a nice big branch for the nest...
...what looks like a spot of allopreening. With beaks like those, letting your partner preen you has got to be a matter of considerable trust. I'm reading it as, "Thanks so much for the nice branch. Our nest is shaping beautifully."
The peak tide was well past by the time I reached the shore, but it definitely was still high.
It really had been a lovely morning.
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