It appeared an afternoon shower was coming down north of the road system
Overcast and rainy this morning, transitioning to convective showers with small breaks showing blue sky and even a little sun later in the day.
Rowan went with me out to Starrigavan this afternoon.
I wanted to see look for the yellow and black springtails I had found on a recent trip
As I scanned the estuary while still driving, I noticed a Greater Yellowlegs.
This prompted a side trip to the viewing platform so I could get a better look at it (my first of the year).
We heard a Red-tailed Hawk, sounded like across the estuary, but couldn’t see it.
Dozens of robins flew up from estuary meadow.
Walking around loop to walk-in campground area, we heard the hawk again.
Looking up to try and see it, Rowan noticed two raptors up high. I took pictures.
Although it was flying high in poor light, the photos I got were enough to confirm a Golden Eagle. Other than the nesting pair at Blue Lake a few years ago, this is the only one I've seen.
One clearly a Bald Eagle, the other I thought might be a Golden Eagle. Not good photos, but good enough. Head/neck did not extend as far out, body was all dark. A bit of pale seemed to show on back of head and neck.
Three new species put me ahead of last year’s pace for the moment. Hard to say how long that will last, however.
Campsite at Starrigavan walk in campground
In the walk in campground, stepped off at the site where I had seen Sphagnum growing on gravel and took some pictures this time. People with very large dogs were coming our way, and it seemed sensible to give them space. At least one of the dogs seemed suspicious of us (heard it growling).
When I pointed out the tree where I had found the springtails, Rowan quickly found several more. At least a couple were yellow and black, though more were of the mostly dark variety.
They were surprisingly difficult to capture. They didn’t seem to mind us peering closely at them, nor did they do much when I put my camera right up against the tree to take pictures. However, as soon as we had the container up and approaching one, it would spring off. Rowan had success when she slowly moved the container with it oriented in a way that maximized the chance it would spring into the container. If she moved slowly enough, she could get close enough that the springtail went into the container.
Since it didn’t look like we were successful capturing a black and yellow one (which is what I was most interested in), and we couldn’t find any more of those on the tree. We looked around on some other dead trees. We found a few more, again mostly the dark ones, though we didn’t spend as much time at it.
I did find a long-bodied springtail on one. It was much easier to catch, as it didn’t seem concerned about the approach of the container.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
