I spent most of the day inside, but did take a quick trip to Swan Lake and then walked down around the beach at Totem Park early this evening.
Weather: It’s been a bit stormy last night and most of today. Rain has fallen, very heavy at times, with pretty good winds blowing. When I was down at the park it seemed that the winds were coming from the west. The clouds did part for a short time this afternoon, but rain showers still moved through even as the sun shone a little bit. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 50s, but it has dropped below 50 now.
Birds: Two Greater White-fronted Geese were at Swan Lake. I suspect they are the same as the ones I saw a little over a week ago at Moller Field. I also saw two (presumably the same ones) at Swan Lake yesterday on my way to get groceries.
There were lots of Robins and Starlings on the lawns around campus.
On the beach before Merrill Rock, there were 25 or so Black Turnstones. I saw another 6 down toward the point along with one Semipalmated Plover. There was a single Ruddy Turnstone down toward the river mouth.
There were hundreds, if not thousands, of gulls on the beach, in the estuary, and up the river today. There were many more feeding on dead salmon in the river, mostly at in the estuary section. I did not notice any unusual ones, though I did make sure to look for any dark mantled gulls, as one was spotted recently.
Also on the beach there were several Ravens feeding on dead salmon and quite a few Savannah Sparrows.
There were many Mallards just a little way up the river (still in the estuary section). I also saw a couple of American Wigeons.
Other Notes: I didn’t anticipate it, but the river was running pretty high today.
There were quite a few dead fish piled up in places along the beach. One section of the river bank in the estuary was covered in dead salmon. The gulls were treating it as a an all you can eat buffet, I think.