The kids and I braved the wind to walk down to the park and see what might be around. I thought the gusts of wind pushing spray across the bay was particularly interesting.
Totem Park
Eagles and Murres
This week we got to witness some excitement in the park involving Bald Eagles and Common Murres. Monday I was out on the tideflats looking for a Rock Sandpiper (which I didn’t find) when many of the birds between me and the water flushed away from the water. I looked up and saw an eagle … Read more
Walk to Totem Park
Walked down to Totem Park with the kids again today. It was pretty rainy for much of the time we were there, though the rain stopped and skies lightened a bit before we left.
Birds and Sunlight
I had intended to take a short walk down to Totem Park to check if any shorebirds were out that way and hopefully find a Rock Sandpiper – a species which I know is around, but had not been seen during yesterdays bird count. It didn’t quite work out that way, but that was because there were interesting things to be observing.
First up was a Western Screech Owl on Etolin Street – the first I’ve seen in daylight, and only about the third time I’ve actually seen one at all (though I’ve heard them many times).
Then down at the park I got distracted by conversation with a couple of different people – heard some interesting things about the goings-on of birds an other animals. Including ducks at Totem Park and Sea Otters out at Halibut Point Rec. (In one of the videos [update: no longer available] made by one of the people I was talking to – there is part of it you can observed Mallards working over the cobbles in Indian River for food, as well as seeing a Common Merganser try and come in to steal some bites – at least that’s what I think is going on.)
While out on the flats looking for the shorebirds, I looked up as the gulls and crows went into a bird plow. Spotted an eagle with something in its talons flying my way.
There was an odd duck out in the bay in front of Indian River mouth – too far away to get a very good look at. Also lots of birds out from Jamestown Bay, too far to identify as well.
Finally I started back home and then spent more time watching and photographing the owl, as well as showing some other passers-by.
The whole time there were interesting atmospheric displays as the clouds were breaking up in front of the sun.
In the end it was a fairly full day wandering around, seeing the sights, and then editing the photos later. I think the owl and eagle photos deserve their own post. The photos are in the album here, but I think I’ll write a separate post in the next couple of days to tell those stories a little better.
Snowy Day at Totem Park
I got an e-mail this morning from someone who reported seeing a dozen or so geese off the point at Totem Park this morning. She said it was dim and she didn’t have binoculars so couldn’t see them too well, but it looked like they might not have white cheeks, and might be worth checking out. I took this as motivation to get out of the house – something I might not have done otherwise.
By the time I headed out, skies were getting darker and snow was starting to fall. When I reached the park snow was falling heavily. Between the wind, snow, and moderately low tide, I couldn’t see the water at the end of the park, and I didn’t really want to wander out into the stiff breeze with blowing snow. Instead, I spent a little more time on the trail, gave some attention to the two species of alder, then walked over to the river mouth, and finally to the point, by which time the snow was starting to let up.
I walked out on the flats and was able to approach some of the 100 or more crows fairly closely. They seemed to be foraging for invertebrates and eating snow. It was fun to watch (and try to photograph) them flying up with mussels (I think) and dropping them to crack them open. I got pictures of several different individuals, but not a good full sequence for any particular time. I sorted the gallery pictures below so it’s in order, even though the pictures are from 2 or 3 different birds. One particular crow allowed me to approach quite closely as it was eating snow. I was interested in this, since Rowan had just told me a couple of days ago that she was able to see the crows eating snow at the park.
After heading back to the trail, I stopped to take pictures of 5 different alder trees. I like to try and notice differences between the species of alder (Alnus rubra and Alnus viridis) – and I think I found another one today. It seemed to work pretty well for the trees I could find at the park today, anyway.
Winter Sun at Totem Park
Bright skies this morning lured me into taking a walk with Connor and Rowan down to Totem Park. However, by the time we were leaving, it seemed to be totally overcast and a light snow was falling. We walked down to Lincoln Street and found things to be pretty quiet, both on land and on the water. As we reached the park, the sun started to break out from behind the clouds, offering hope of a chance to accumulate a bit of sun exposure – something that has been sorely lacking in this significantly wetter than usual December.
By the time we got to the battle site part of the loop, the sun had broken out of the clouds, and it felt noticeably warm standing on the beach where I could get the full effect of the direct sun as well as the strong reflections off the water. I just stood there for a couple of minutes enjoying the warmth before Rowan informed me there were some shorebirds around the corner. Going to investigate, I discovered the wind blowing from the east – though not especially strong – was sufficient to make it feel quite chilly, despite the sun. I later retreated back to the calmer location – having the good excuse that I wanted to try and get some pictures of the redpolls I had seen adjacent to the beach there.
One of the things I’ve been keeping an eye out for is a good representative of Fomitopsis pinicola (one of two or three different species often referred to as Bear’s Bread). Despite it being very common, I have previously only taken pictures of this shelf fungus that were unusual in some way. Today I noticed one growing on a spruce trunk right at the start of the beach-side of the west loop. A little further down the path, I took a picture of the somewhat similar Heterobasidion annosum, as well. This can sometimes form a shelf, and in such cases may look quite similar to the Fomitopsis, but unlike Fomitopsis, it often grows flat, not forming a shelf at all.
Despite there being few birds around, I did see some things of interest. Species-wise, at least a couple of Common Redpolls were working the alders with a handful of Pine Siskins. Redpolls were absent last winter, and this is only the second time I’ve seen any siskins in the past several months. Also of note were at least a couple of Rock Sandpipers in with the Black Turnstones, and a probable Red-tailed Hawk first spotted by Rowan (who told me she saw the red tail – I just saw a brief glimpse of it before it disappeared behind the trees).
While attempting to photograph the siskins and redpolls, I was also treated to some activity of a small group of Barrow’s Goldeneye right near the shore, but I think I’ll post on that separately, as I would like to wrap this up.