The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
February 16, 2015
Salish Sea, PNW
The last day of the Great Backyard Bird Count weekend was the first sunny day in a week. I'd already made observations and reported them from my backyard and from the beach, so I thought a session offshore would round out the weekend nicely, and coincided with an errand in the boat. The Great Backyard Bird Count is a global citizen science project that generates valuable data about bird distribution and phenology (see enhydra lutris' recent Bucket describing it).
Birds vary tremendously depending on habitat. Even a half mile offshore turns up a very different set. That was my GBBC goal. Our personal errand: we needed to top up the tank in the boat, not knowing how much we've actually used since we acquired Elansa last summer. We live at the other end of the island from the one fuel dock, about 10 miles away. A fairly calm day with an incoming tide in the morning and an ebb in the afternoon to speed us through narrow Cattle Pass would be perfect. Elansa is not a "speedboat", making ~6.5 knots in calm water, so every bit of tidal current helps!
We passed through several habitats, first being the open water by the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Olympic mountains are across the way. Surrounded by a choppy swirling tide rip we decided to spend more time in this area on the way back. Two Bald eagles perch on part of Whale Rocks I call "Eagle Rock" since there is almost always at least one there:
Many wintering Mew Gulls were around the offshore rocks here. Earlier in the season they are common on the beach too. Their petite beaks are mewing cries are distinctive.
So after a choppy trip north, current and wind in conflict, we reached the the marina to fuel up and clean salt spray off the window.
The village and two marinas are in a very protected bay, popular for ducks. Buffleheads abound. Usually there are dabbling ducks but I didn't see any this time. I did see Hooded Mergansers, and a number of "urban" birds: Canada geese, pigeons, gulls and crows. Surprisingly there were two flocks of Common Goldeneyes, the heads of the males shining iridescent green in sunlight, the females a rich rusty brown.
A few more birds and a swing by Whale Rocks to check out what's up with the Steller Sea Lions in mid-February...
(All photos by me. In Lightbox...click to enlarge)
Pelagic Cormorants at the channel marker, leaving the bay:
Double-crested cormorants are much more common close to shore, and I didn't see many on this trip. I also did not see any Brandt's cormorants, which were very common earlier in the winter. They have departed for the breeding season.
Outside the bay, alcids are at home in the rougher water. All the alcids (I saw Guillemots, Marbled Murrelets and Common Murres) were in varying stages of plumage, from winter to breeding. These are both Pigeon Guillemots:
A wintering flock of nine Black Oystercatchers screamed past us, swooping up and then flying low just above the surface out of sight.
Our swing around Whale Rocks had a couple of surprises. I've been seeing fewer sea lions since January - this time there were only about a dozen - and today there were three California Sea Lions hauled out with the Steller's! Californias (only males) are common in winter downsound by Seattle, near Vancouver Island and along the open coast but I hadn't heard or read they spent time in the San Juan Islands. The darker sea lions with the pale Klingon crest are bull California sea lions - molting now. The larger, golden beasts are bull Steller's (a Glaucous-winged gull also screeches at a young Pelagic cormorant in the second pic).
Besides the presence of California sea lions, I've also been surprised this winter by all the female and young Steller's here with the bulls. All the reports I've read say they stay closer to the rookeries along the open ocean. They are the sleeker-profiled and smaller ones.
There appears to be a difference of opinion among them about whether there's enough space on the rock there:
This female and youngster appeared to be "together":
While those two edged their way up onto the rock, a tight flock of Dunlins streaked by! Dunlins are among the few shorebirds who winter here, but I see them rarely. Most of our shorebirds appear only in migration (not counting our resident Oystercatchers, Turnstones and Killdeer).
The flock circled the rock, then circled it again, and a third time (!) before flitting away out of sight, much faster than us needless to say!
My camera made it possible to count and identify them, which is true for many of the observations I document.
One last photo. As we passed what I call the Cezanne Wall along one of the large offshore islands, I noted an immature Bald Eagle perched there facing away, one of three youngsters I saw that day. We were pretty far away, outside the kelp bed, but I was just able to see its yellowish beak when it turned its head, which means it is likely a few years old.
It took me a couple of days after downloading my pics to sort through, identify & count birds, before submitting my observations. My data, added to the thousands of other lists worldwide, will help track populations and migration. If you haven't submitted your reports yet, you have until Feb 28!
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The Bucket is open for your observations of nature today. Birds, mammals, insects, frogs, blooming or leafing out happening in your backyard? Please report in the comments.
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" is posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time and Wednesday at 3:30 on the Daily Kos front page. It's a great way to catch up on diaries you might have missed. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.