Another warm and wet day. Based on conditions at the airport, it was breezy in places, but where I was winds were light. Temperatures into the 50s.
I arrived at Sawmill Cove at 10:30am. As has often been the case, they were working on other things and didn’t get to the actual pile driving until well after the observers were in place. (The cost of a delay if observers were not present is far greater than the cost of paying observers to be there earlier than they actually end up being needed, so it makes sense to have us there at the earliest time they think we might be needed.)
Two fishing boats were tied up on the dock when I arrived, so I opted to observe from near the mouth of Sawmill Creek.
With temperatures near or above 50F, it was quite comfortable sitting during the period the rain stopped. The rain did return, and continued at a moderate rate throughout the remainder of the day. Moderate rain doesn’t sound like much, but when it goes for hours without stopping, it adds up to very wet.
I was surprised the gulls and a cormorant resting at the point just beyond where I was observing didn’t take off on my approach. They seemed unconcerned with me.
I didn’t see many birds in the cove today. I don’t remember seeing any loons. The birds I did see seemed to be present in smaller numbers than some previous days. I’m not sure if it’s due to the on-going activity, or just normal-ish variation in presence at this location.
The squirrel that lives on the little spit of land has been industrious. I saw several more piles of alder cones gathered up than I had noticed a few days ago.
The work ended up going beyond sunset. They started the last piling just before, then had trouble with it. The permit allows them to go up to 30 minutes past sunset if needed to safely secure a piling. In this case, they needed to pull the piling and will try again tomorrow. With the heavy clouds and rain, it was dark-dark during the post-watch. (Lucky for me, I had gone on my mandated break not long before sunset time, so I just needed to wait in relative comfort for the others to be done, so I could collect the gear and papers.)
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
