I kept fairly busy with school stuff today and was trying to ignore the evening sunshine but finally gave in and went for a walk down to Totem Park. The tide was up fairly high, but going out. It was probably around the 9 foot level.
Weather: Cloudy for most of the day, partial clearing this evening. There were periods of rain and a pretty nice rainbow as the sun broke through about an hour and a half before sunset.
Birds: There were at least a couple of Harlequin Ducks on Sage Rock this evening.
I saw about a dozen Black Turnstones scattered along the beach. Most of the ones I saw were up near the high tide line until I came around, then they moved down toward the water.
I saw a single Spotted Sandpiper along the lower stretch of Indian River (part of the estuary, actually).
There were quite a few warblers in the branches at the edge of the forest and many Savannah Sparrows foraging along the upper
part of the beach.
Several hundred gulls were on shore, in the bay, up the river, and flying all around. I saw one that I think might be a California Gull.
On a couple of occasions I saw a large group of gulls take off and a moment or two later a Bald Eagle flew over. In each case the eagle did not look like it was trying too hard to get a gull, but maybe if one had not been paying attention it would have been a little more serious.
I just missed getting a photo of an immature eagle trying to pull a salmon out of the water.
Other Notes: There are lots of dead fish on the beach now.
There was a crazy Giant Vetch plant blooming at the south end of the park along the beach. Normally vetch blooms pretty early in the summer. I do not know what was going on with this one.
