Blog of the Plague Year(s)

11 September A calm morning, slight overcast.  High tide.  The beginning of autumnal colour. The river is still low. Although I didn't see them this morning, the salmon are coming up the river.  With their arrival, the dipper appears as well, possibly drawn by highly nutritious salmon eggs.   Fungi are emerging along the river and in the forest. The high tide made the distant sandbar into an islet. Flocks of waterfowl are beginning to pass through.  Mergansers are resident year 'round.  Remeber the saying about ducks in a row? I use this stand of bitter cherry as a seasonal marker.  It's starting to show autumn. A long-dead fir tree snag has a showy collection of bracket fungus. 16 September September at its finest.  Sunny, then streaky cloud, amiable warmth in the sun. The river is still low, and very placid, despite a couple of nights of heavy rain. Autumn's colours continue to advance.  The cottonwoods and alders along the river are a...

29 August eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S193199337 weather:  10:00 am 17C wind NW 11, clear tide:  12:00 m, 2.3m rising A glorious morning--just enough breeze to feel fresh, the sun's warmth pleasant.  The sky a deep, almost alpine, blue. The river is still low, despite last week's rain.   A very low tide, the shore barely visible.   As I sat, drinking coffee and munching a granola bar, I was visited by a young white-crowned sparrow, who appeared to have been feeding on blackberries.  . Further along the path, there was a small flock--maybe eight--of red crossbills. They look to be juvenile males, transitioning from the yellow green of females and juveniles to the red of adult birds. 2 September    The parking area at the Shelly Road trailhead had a warning notice, that had been appropriately edited.    My favourite month--when I lived in California, it was welcome because the days finally began to cool down a b...