Daily Observations: Indian River Gravel Bar

Yesterday I spent most of the day at home, but I did wander around the neighborhood a little bit in the evening. Today I had a couple of errands to run downtown, so I stopped by Swan Lake briefly. Around dinner time, I took Connor and Rowan to Indian River and we had a little picnic dinner on a gravel bar, after which I took pictures of things and they looked around to see what they could see.

Weather: Overcast with occasional rain, but not generally too heavy. Winds were light and temperatures were in the mid 50s.

Birds: Swan Lake had very few birds. I didn’t see any ducks near the peninsula, so presumably the resident Mallards were off at some other part of the lake. There were a few Tree Swallows swooping about and I saw one Savannah Sparrow.

Riding toward town from the lake, I saw a Starling carrying food to a nestling.

Yesterday the kids watched the neighborhood Red-breasted Sapsucker working on the trees across the street. I saw it fly through the backyard a couple of times today (it likes the willow tree behind the neighbor’s house).

This evening there was a Swainson’s Thrush singing along Indian River. It’s the first one I’ve heard singing this year. I also heard one around the house this evening. Actually, I might have heard one last night, but I don’t remember for sure.

There was a Red-breasted Sapsucker at Indian River that seemed to be finding something of interest on river logs. I suspect it was finding food in the moss.

Flora: Buckbean is blooming at Swan Lake. Marestail is also coming up at the lake.

Last evening when I was walking around the neighborhood, I noticed the sour smell of Red Elderberry flowers blooming. The large bush just up the street is now blooming.

At Indian River several Siberian Miner’s Lettuce plants were blooming on the gravel bar. One was white, the others pink. Also there was one small Sitka Mistmaiden (see photo above), Gray Currant (aka Stink Currant), a small mustard, and chickweed was just getting started. I also noticed Enchanter’s Nightshade starting to come up, but I didn’t see any flower buds yet.

Other Notes: Connor and Rowan found a deer track in the sand at the river.

The river was fairly high considering the small amount of rain that has fallen lately. I presume that is from the snow melting.

I noticed ants crawling up and down the Red Alders around the house yesterday. I’ll try to get a picture of one at some point.

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