Life on the Outer Coast

Saturday was a fitting last day of summer. It was sunny, warm & cool all at once and I spent most of the day outdoors.
The birds were rather active in the garden in the morning. Watched a sapsucker pounding away at a Mtn. Ash behind the house. I'm guessing that it was a juvenile because the red didn't extend far on the chest and the color of the head wasn't quite as bright as I expect to see. Heard about a "blue bird", a probable Steller's Jay in the garden about an hour after it was seen. Haven't seen a jay in the garden before ( I guess I still haven't). Glad it was a jay, I might be in jail now if it was an actual Bluebird. There were ruby crowns, golden crowned, fox and song sparrows, juncos, chickadees, varied and hermit thrushes in the vegetable beds and shrubs.
Still hoping for the nuthatches, but none yet. A pair golden-crowns showed up at last, so perhaps the nuthatches aren't far behind. The song sparrows are still singing away.
Walked through the park to dance class again, this time with my binoculars, but without enough time to make use of them. Was able to make use of them after class when I walked back to the park to direct runners for the boys race. I was standing in the entrance to the Battlefield site across from the path to the battle walk (beach) talking to Jan when a large chicken-like bird wandered across the path to the beach. At first I thought that it was likely to be a stray chicken, but that idea didn't last long. It was a rather dark bird, with distinct barring, a white v-like shape in the neck area and featherless feet. I didn't see a distinct red eyebrow. I would like to call it a Spruce grouse, but am uncomfortable making the call. I really haven't seen enough grouse and ptarmigan to feel comfortable telling them apart when I'm not looking at a breeding male. Especially since I read that ptarmigan tend to lose the feathers on their feet in the summer. This bird held its tail a bit fanned out at times, but it wasn't like the big tail of a displaying male bird.
We did watch it eat huckleberries from the lower branches of the bushes. It was a little wary, but let me get within a few feet before it would wander off. If I held still for a minute or two, it would come closer again. I followed it along the edge of the path until the race started. The boys went by rather quickly, and the bird didn't go far, so it was easy to find. Jan took a film of it with her video camera and I'm hoping that she can capture an image or two that will help positively identify it. The cell phone isn't really cut out to take photos of dark birds in dark woods, (it was good amusement though). I lost the bird on the boys' second run by, mostly because of being distracted by an obviously injured runner. It was somewhere near the domestic apple tree in the woods between the trail and the beach.
After that surprise sighting, I was not as excited about the harlequins near the mouth of the river as I should have been. I had seen three harlequin at Halibut Pt. Rec a couple of weeks ago, but still should have marked their return in larger numbers with a bit more gratitude. They were probably the small ducks I was squinting at on Friday afternoon without binoculars?

Spent the rest of the day in the garden digging potatoes and cleaning up some of the vegetable beds. I also covered the carrots and remaining brussels sprouts with reemay since a deer had been snacking on the garden again. I did buy my hunting license today in hope of eating rose fed deer. It had mostly stayed out 0f the garden this summer, so I was getting a little complacent. The potato harvest was pretty good, I didn't weigh them, but the weight of the box exceeded my ability to carry it. The carrots seemed to have done well, despite a slow start and the few we ate for dinner tasted wonderful. I was hoping to get the garlic planted, but didn't quite get to it.

Sunday
I had a little time in the garden before heading in to Jojo's baby shower. Spent it digging salmonberry, huckleberry and elderberry for the park. The newly dug potato and brocoli beds attracted several fox sparrows, soon the song and golden-crowns joined them. The fox sparrows didn't seem at all worried about me digging about 10 ft away from them, but the other two species were a little more nervous. Mostly we were enjoying the harvest in our own ways, me and some sparrows digging in the beds and others on the posts and a few in the vine maple. I was looking down, when I heard a very frantic sounding flush of birds flying next to me. I thought that someone was walking into the garden, but when I looked up I saw the tail of a hawk chasing one or more birds into the bushes just past me. I should have realized that the reaction of the birds was a little big for a person to be the cause. I ran to get the camera and when I returned, the hawk who must have been perched in the crab apple, flew toward me and up behind the wood shed. Perhaps I should have been a little slower in my movements? Maybe even had the camera ready? Actually I'm feeling lucky just to have seen the whole event.
I'm pretty satisfied with calling it a sharp-shin because of the size, the extreme contrast of the banding in its tail, shape of the wings and the lightness of its face. The merlins I've seen seemed much darker than this bird. I couldn't find any sign of a successful hunt, but the sparrows were much warier. I just heard low "are you there" type of calls afterward.