There was a marine layer this morning that gave way, came back, gave way for good around noon. Wind out of the west until the evening.
Connor, Rowan and I got some lunch at Seamart then went out to Starrigavan to sit on the beach and have a picnic lunch. It was interesting to see the different personalities of two ravens who came by to get small pieces of the chicken that had fallen (which we then threw over where they could get). One was clearly much more bold than the other.
As we were walking up to the car, a woman told us that a bear was over in the estuary, so we took some time to observe it. First we watched from the viewing platform, then over from the boardwalk trail on the Starrigavan Creek side near the spur. The direction of the light was much better on this side. We kept our distance but were able to get some nice views (telephoto lenses come in handy) while the bear fed on sedges and eventually walked up into the forest. Although a good-sized animal, it was small for a bear. Perhaps one that has just recently left its mother. (Update: this was apparently a 1.5 year old female whose mother was shot by a hiker she charged on the Forest and Muskeg trail. In the 2 or 3 days after we observed it, apparently many more people did as well, with some getting much too close and irritating her. She was shot and killed while charging a state trooper. The trooper was there with a fish and game biologist looking or the bear in hopes of hazing her with a tazer that has proven to be effective at getting bears to move on elsewhere.)
Around the house, the Tree Swallows active until shortly after sunset, I saw one on a wire near 9:30, but didn’t see where it went. As I sat by a small fire into darkness, I noticed a couple of flight calls, one I believe was a Greater Yellowlegs, and another a mystery bird that I think was a shorebird. Robins were singing fairly late.
