Overcast with temperatures in the mid to upper 30s.
The tide was trending slightly above predicted today.
I went out to Starrigavan for the high tide.
I had pushed a chunk of snow off the bridge railing. This young swan quickly swam over, apparently thinking it was food
Swans were up in the flooded river channel below the foot bridge. When I tossed a snow ball into the water, they rapidly swam over to it. Presumably they thought I had food for them.
While on the boardwalk waiting for the tide to crest, I saw a Great Blue Heron. It mostly just stood in the snowy meadow grasses at the upper part of the flood zone.
Tundra voles living in the estuary meadow get flooded out of their burrows during the highest tides. They are capable of swimming, but are more exposed to predators
Suddenly it jabbed its bill into the grass and came back with a vole. I am pretty sure I heard the vole squeak a couple of times.
Great Blue Heron swallowing a tundra vole it had just caught
It didn’t take long for the heron to get the vole arranged in its beak and swallow it whole.
I took a short video of a Pacific Wren repeatedly chipping. The pattern was two chips at a time, and they were accompanied by dips.
As I was leaving, a small skiff slowly motored up from under the road bridge. I saw it go as far as the foot bridge before I left.
The coot and crane are still about.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
