Love watching brown pelicans dive for fish.
Osprey hunting. One of a pair. Caracara were also in the area.
Tern with a small fish.
Ruby-crowned kinglet. Such big eyes for such a small bird.
Had a few more visits from the kingfisher. First, and probably last time, a kingfisher will sit still long enough for me take their picture.
Wild turkey’s fluffed up and on the fence.
Visited South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center that is around 20 miles from my current home base. There are boardwalks through marsh areas that allow you to observe birds close up. The seem to know they are safe and usually don’t fly away. I did not visit Galveston or Rockport, Texas this year, so it is nice to see the coastal birds here.
Above two pictures, tricolored herons
Above, reddish egret (top) and little blue heron (bottom).
White rumped sandpiper (top) and lesser yellowlegs (bottom).
Caspian tern
A large flock of (Caspian) terns on the sand spit at the mouth of the Klamath River
Love seeing pelicans fly in formation.
A sweathouse on Yurok ceremonial grounds located a mile or so from the rv park at the mouth of the Klamath River.
Newton B. Drury Parkway in Prairie Creek Redwood State Park.
Fern Canyon at Gold Bluffs Beach in Prairie Creek Redwood State Park. Water running down the sides of the cliffs have allowed ferns to grow for thousands of years. Next time I’ll remember to bring water sandals and a tripod.
A varied thrush seen near Fern Canyon with a worm and insect in its’ beak.
Largest antlers seen at Gold Bluffs Beach.
Lots of goldfinches (below) seen near the coast. Not a great picture, but the only one I could get.
Stayed at the Salton Sea State Park one night at their Salt Creek Campground. Enjoyed staying at the no hookup campground next to the water.
The pictures below were taken in the morning light. The protuberances seen on the beaks of the pelicans in the second picture had me concerned. Later found out adult pelicans have these in the breeding season.
Above: Get off my cloud! Some of the pelicans got protective of their fishing areas.
A variety of gulls, along with pelicans and a few herons and terns, roosted on sandbars. Gulls were continuously flying in and out of the roost.
When I went to close the door of my rv after it got dark, saw a lot of pelican activity on the water. Looks like they wanted a bedtime snack.
Where Padilla Bay is around 11 miles north of where I’m staying, Camano Island is around 11 miles south. Above are caspian terns seen at Iverson Spit Preserve on Camano Island.
Just a short distance from Iverson Spit, but on the other side of the island, is English Boom Preserve. It is seven acres of tidelands and shoreline that used to be part of a large log storage yard. On my first visit there, the sounds of an eagle drew my attention to the above nest. Excuse the poor quality, it was on a tall tree on a shaded hillside. I went back the next day to try and get better pictures. On arriving, the young eagle was sitting on one tree, about a block from the nest, and one of it’s parents was on the tree next to it. After a short time, the young one flew over to the parent’s tree. Shortly thereafter, the parent flew off, leaving the young one to sit for about an hour, intermittently crying out for its parent. Finally, the parent appeared near the nest and the young one flew back to the nest. The parent took off again, but this time the young one followed it out of sight.
Salt marsh at English Boom.
Right above English Boom is a small plane airport. Their runway is shown above. That’s it. If they don’t lift off by the end of the runway they will go over the cliff and go boom.
Camano Island is heavily developed, with public access to the coast limited. It is just from the work of some volunteers (Friends of Camano Island Parks) along with city, state, and federals agencies that have allowed some public preserves and parks to be developed. The above two parks are not advertised and there are no signs directing you to them. I got the directions from the Washington Audubon Society’s web site and their Washington Birding Trail Map.
Another site brought about with the help of the Friends of the Camano Island Parks is Davis Slough. The above two pictures of sandpipers (top) and lesser yellowlegs (bottom) were taken near there.
Update: Happened to stop at the same spot as above in the late afternoon and found a large flock of sandpipers. They must nest there for the night.
Update of my update: Read where the sandpipers are part of the fall migration along the Pacific Flyway.
I drove to Camano Island State Park to check it out. It is in a beautiful setting of tall trees with coastal access. The camp sites are no hookup, first come first served (Yes!).
