Sunny skies prevailed today. I had a basketball game early this afternoon, but after that we went up Harbor Mountain and took a walk up to the left of the bowl.

Weather: It was mostly clear throughout the day. Winds seemed to be calm for the most part, though I think there were some pretty good thermals coming up from Harbor Mountain.

Birds: Just got a brief glimpse of the hawk out Sawmill Creek Road today.

I saw one hawk on Harbor Mountain that was too far away for me to identify. A little later we got a really good look at a young Northern Harrier. It came up close to the ridge where we were standing. It slowly gained elevation before it soared off to the south. Connor was the first one to see the harrier and point it out. He felt pretty good about that, I think.

Flora: Many of the plants on Harbor Mountain had lost most of their leaves. There were still a few blueberries to be found on some of the bushes, though the leaves were gone. We found a few trailing raspberries in various stages of ripeness.

I got out on a short kayak trip with Scott Harris this morning. We started out from Sage Beach, went down to the mouth of Indian River. After nosing up into the river, we crossed over to go around Twin Island and through the Gillmore Islands before heading back. This afternoon we went on a boat ride with the Nuttings up to the head of Silver Bay.

Weather: This morning when we started out kayaking, there was little wind. After visiting the river, we found there was a light breeze out of the south. When we headed out this afternoon, the wind seemed to be blowing a bit harder, but it was quite calm in Silver Bay. On our way back, the wind had died down somewhat. We went through a little bit of rain on the boat ride, but other than a couple of other short periods of light mist, there was no rain today.

Birds:
Late last night I went down to my office to turn the light out (I had left it on earlier in the day) and I heard several birds chirping. I could not tell for sure whether they were in the trees or flying overhead, but I think they were in the trees. It seemed pretty late for birds to be calling (it was after 10:30 pm, well after dark). Melissa heard more again tonight when she was out briefly.

On the kayak trip, I saw a larger shorebird fly toward the mouth of Indian River. It looked about the size of a Yellowlegs, but I do not think it had the white tail, so it may have been something else. There were a couple of Black Turnstones near the mouth of the river, and it looked like a few more up in the estuary.

There were lots of gulls at the park. We also saw one Black-legged Kittiwake. At first I was thinking it was a Mew Gull, but it seemed a little odd. Still, I would have probably just figured it was a Mew Gull until I saw the black legs when it took off.

Out on the islands we saw a couple of Wandering Tattlers and 4 or 5 Spotted Sandpipers. These were the first Wandering Tattlers
I have seen, and one of them was kind enough to allow me to approach for a photo.

The jay(s?) and flicker(s?) have been around the neighborhood again today. I was able to give a Steller’s Jay several peanuts. It would take them and hide them various places. I don’t know if it will remember where they all are, I kind of doubt it. I tossed a few peanuts to it and was getting it to come fairly close to me to grab them before it was time to go for the boat ride.

Apparently while I was kayaking, Rowan spotted a couple of woodpeckers (she was walking downtown with Connor and my mom), from the description, I think they were probably Red-breasted Sapsuckers.

There was a fair sized flock of geese flying south this afternoon.

Other Notes:
When we were getting back close to Sage Beach a sea lion came up behind us. It was a fair distance away, but they definitely seem a little larger when you are in the water with them.

In the backyard I observed what I think were probably too slugs mating. They went around in circles for the few minutes I watched them.

The mushrooms are coming out more each day. The Amanitas in particular are looking quite showy.

Took a couple of trips down to Totem Park today to take advantage of brighter skies.

Weather: A little bit of light rain and mist today, but there were also some significant spots of blue sky and sun. Winds were light out of the west this afternoon.

Birds: I took advantage of the brighter drier conditions to get some photos of the humming birds that were still feeding in the fireweed.

There was a very loose mixed flock of birds that I noticed moving through the trees along the beach edge of the forest. There were Wilson’s Warblers, Townsend’s Warblers, at least one flycatcher, at least one Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Golden-crowned Kinglets.

There were several warblers that spent some time in the fireweed while I was watching the hummingbirds. I got a good look at Orange-crowned Warblers, a Wilson’s Warbler or two, and possibly a Yellow Warbler.

The shorebirds have practically disappeared. I counted maybe 5 Least Sandpipers, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, and 1 Spotted Sandpiper. I did not look over by the river, so there may have been another shorebird or two over there. However, the tide was up, so I don’t think there was too much over that way.

Other Notes: A lot of mushrooms are coming up in the park.

An interesting looking moth flew up while I was sitting on the beach holding out some hope for shorebirds. I got some photos of it (I’ll probably post some later). When I showed Rowan the pictures and asked her she knew what it was, she thought it looked like bird poop. If that’s what is trying to imitate, it could do better, but I thought it was interesting that she came up with bird poop.

Flora: Many umbels are blooming, as are the fireweed and yarrow.  Most other plants are pretty much done blooming.

The red huckleberries are ripe, though they are not all that abundant.

The deer heart are starting to die back.

I saw some ripe raspberries on Etolin Street.  We have one raspberry getting ripe in the backyard.

Birds:  Fall shorebird migration seems to be going strong.  I have seen many Least Sandpipers, a few Spotted Sandpipers, at least a couple of Yellowlegs, a Western Sandpiper, and Black Turnstones down at the park.

Some warblers have started to move through as well.  I have seen Wilson’s Warblers a couple of times.

The hummingbirds were actively feeding in the fireweed patch at the end of the park today.

Other Notes:  Connor and Rowan seemed to enjoy spending time down at the beach today.  We
went for a walk and ended up taking quite a bit longer than I intended.  They played while I tried to get photos of shorebirds.  I noticed that as the tide got higher, more and more of the sandpipers moved up to the seaweed washed up at the high tide line.  The kids were playing up there and on a number of occasions, the birds flew very near to them.  In the photo above they are trying to walk slowly and spot the birds before they fly away.