The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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January 2021
Salish Sea, PacificNorthwest
The sun sets around 4:30 pm these days. That’s when there was a break in the rain Thursday and Friday last week so that’s when I went down to the bay. A few birds were still busy, eking out the last of the light to forage for food before settling in for the night.
A Kingfisher missed a strike on a flight over the dim surface, but still made it clear this is his territory, scolding from a cliff beside the water. This end of the beach is his.
Out on the water, silhouettes are the best way to identify ducks when it’s getting dark. Ducks are visible on the surface briefly between dives.
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There’s movement on the water’s edge below. Otherwise I’d not have seen the shorebirds. These are Oystercatchers foraging in the rocks for limpets.
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At a certain point, the oystercatcher in the lead hopped up on a rock and looked out to sea. The one following did too. Judging the light remaining? Deciding where to settle in now night descends? There’ll be lots more limpets with the extreme low tide coming, but that will be at night.
Then they all flew off at once, heading straight out over the bay. It looked instantaneous to me but my senses aren’t as perceptive as theirs, either quickness or visual resolution. If they hadn’t been calling as they flew I couldn’t have tracked their direction, around the corner of the headland.
Night arrives early in January. Time for me to get home before full dark.
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Blustery out of the south today. Lots of rain. Temp 40s today.
WHAT’S UP IN NATURE IN YOUR AREA TODAY?
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