28 august-5 September

28 August

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S148326721

Weather:  9:00 am 15C wind 6 kph,  12:00 m 14C wind 8 kph partly cloudy

Tide:  11:00 am 0.8m, turning upward

1 September

eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S148707606

Weather:  10:00 am 17C wind NW 16,  1:00 pm 20C wind NW 14

Tide:  11:00 am, 1.9m, falling

3 September

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S148904111 

weather:  9:00 am 17C wind NNW 8, 1:00 pm 18C wind NNE 8

tide:  11:00 am 3.5m, falling

4 September

eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S1490008635 

weather:  10:00 am 16C  1:00 pm 18C partly cloudy

tide:  11:00 am 4.0m, falling


5 September 

eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S149100335 cloudy

weather:  9:00 am 15C wind NW4, 1:00 pm 18C wind E 15

tide:  11:00 am 4.1m, peak, falling


28 August

A quiet morning, breezy, and partly cloudy.  The river remains low, although the Arrowsmith Water Service (which provides most of Parksville's water) assures us that they will hold water back and release it as the salmon migration begins.  I gather there are big schools of chum salmon offshore, waiting to make their way upstream.

This morning the river looked a bit as though there may have been another collapse of the claybanks upstream.


(I'm writing this on September 6th, and no mention was ever made of a collapse.  There was debate about a possible algae bloom, but this looks a lot like suspended clay.)

The foliage along the river is beginning to look more like autumn.


Brown creepers are abundant, and unusually cooperative for photos.


1 September

Sure enough, there are salmon in the river today.  They may still have to learn to walk before they get to the spawning areas.

3 September

Increasing overcast as the morning progressed.  


I've had some time constraints of late, and this was the first morning that I've walked the entire route to the Estuary.  The fields look dry, but we're starting to get occasional rain.  

It was still a bit smoky this morning, and the view of Arrowsmith was obscure.



Tides are a bit higher, which should eventually provide views of the autumn waterfowl migration.  Nothing that evident this morning.


There are killdeer, but they're year-round residents.  

The bitter cherry stand and the Nootka roses are now almost completely golden.



4 October

A high tide but again few shorebirds.  There are flocks of peeps flying about offshore but too distant to identify or photograph.


There are now flocks of bushtits.  I'm not sure what this little character has captured, but he was definitely giving it a work-over.



5 September

A mixed morning.  First I overslept, spilled the salt (eek--bad luck?), and met up with a horde of birders along the river.  This last reduces the number of birds to be seen--twenty people talking away just doesn't contribute to good viewing.  

The salmon run does appear to be underway, at least a bit.  There was a seal well upstream, which happens when they come up to pursue the fish, and there are starting to be dead fish in the river.


This is certain to draw the eagles, gulls and turkey vultures along the river.

For now it was smaller creatures such as this little song sparrow, hunting along the shore.


Along the path, the trees are starting to shed their leaves.


This greater yellowlegs appeared to have some comment to make.  I couldn't hear him, unfortunately.


Again, there were flights of peeps well offshore, and a few black-bellied plovers too distant for photos.

As I made my way along the path, I met three very cross-looking people.  One of them accosted me with, "WHERE ARE THE BIRDS!?"  which left me a bit bewildered.  I pointed about me, saying they were all about, but he persisted.  "We read that this is a place with lots of birds. "  I said yes, but it was kind of a slow time of year yet, and read off the list of what I'd seen so far.  That didn't seem to mollify him.  He said, "The sign at the gate says there are 250 species here.  Where are they?"  My explanation about seasonal migration didn't seem to satisfy them, and they went on their dissatisfied way.  

I've never run across that before.   It was both a bit funny and a bit unsettling.  Who knows what the future holds?




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