Sunrise 7:20 am, sunset 8:29 pm for a total day length of 13 hours and 9 minutes. Tomorrow will be 5 minutes and 24 seconds shorter.
The recent mild, calm weather abruptly turned chilly today with temps in the high 40s and a strong north wind gusting up to 19 mph. Scattered cold rain showers and dim light made birding and photography challenging.
Mercifully sheltered in the lee of a few small spruce trees at the beach, Jonah, Robin, and I searched the far shore for two CALIFORNIA GULLS spotted by Jonah earlier. Through his scope, I saw one small, dark brown juvenile Gull with long very dark primaries, and a bi-colored black tipped bill walking along a bar among GLAUCOUS-WINGED, HERRING, and SHORT-BILLED GULLS. The conditions were difficult; the photos poor. I hope to be able to refind these stray Gulls for better documentation.
To our amazement, a juvenile MERLIN flew towards us, battling the wind. At first, it seemed she might land on the scope, but she veered at the last minute and instead landed on a nearby piece of driftwood. There she perched for several minutes, constantly stabilizing her position in the north wind. What a beautiful falcon! I’ve never been so close! So fearless!
Not to be ignored, the juvenile PEREGRINE FALCON zoomed past like a rocket and in no time was flashing over the distant Gulls. They seemed to ignore her, though last Sunday I found feathers strewn all over the beach and the still bright red carcass of an adult Glaucous-winged Gull.
High up against the clouds shrouding Mt Alice, Jonah spotted a flock of 14 CACKLING GEESE, and then 23 SANDHILL CRANES, all fighting their way into the wind. Had they turned tail, the wind could have shot them to California in no time. These were my first migrant Geese and Cranes of the fall.
As we turned to leave, the NORTHERN HARRIER cruised past, bounced around by the wind but still hungry enough to hunt.
Another amazing peek into the wild world of fall birding!
