Life on the Outer Coast

Stayed on the island from Saturday through Friday morning with a minor case of the flu. Minor in the symptoms, but nothing I really wanted to share. Still a little light headed, but almost back to normal. It wasn't a bad week to sit by the window and watch the feeder and enjoy the view of the ocean. I should have paid more attention to the weeks weather, the imprecise summary is that it has been cold and snowy or cold and sunny. The wind has periodically been fierce, generally been steady. The coldest temperature recorded at the house was 14F, the high might have made it all the way to slightly above freezing. Although the the snow seems to be about 2ft deep, it probably isn't except where the snow has blown it into drifts or where the snowplows and backhoes have piled it. The depth is probably closer to 14 or 15 inches.

The feeder has been the busiest that I remember in recent history, probably a combination of the weather and the steady supply of food that is available because I was at home. Juncos have been dominating the feeder and the brush below the deck. One slate colored junco was in the mixture, the first I remember noticing out here. The best spot to watch the birds is out the basement windows. There is a mixture of oregon crab apple, salmonberry, elderberry and huckleberry growing on the steep slope just below the house. The birds perch in the brush, scratch the ground for seeds and I assume some invertebrates. There are a few pieces of scrap wood that get alot of attention. Not infrequently a junco will fly out from under the house. I wonder if the resident mink take advantage of the bird resource?
There has been 2 song sparrows and a varied thrush hanging out below the feeder. The thrush hasn't ventured up, but the song sparrows will come and sit on the deck rail by the feeder. They don't stand, they sit, very low almost like they are laying down and eat the seed.
The crows make a few ventures to the feeder during the day. There are about 18 of them that come around. They sit in the small spruce that is about 25ft from the feeder, watch for awhile then slowly move in closer, then land on the rail. It can take as long as 15 minutes for them to decide to land.
I did venture out as far as the dock a couple of times before I left. A few stalwart winter wrens, song sparrows, one fox sparrow and one varied thrush was the bulk of the song birds I saw on my walks. The fox sparrow was making use of the unused and open kayak shed. I first saw it in the alders, then it flew into the shed. It was pressed flat (as flat as a live sparrow can get) reaching with its beak under the stack of wood on the floor.

I did solve the mystery of the tail drag in the weasel tracks. Weasel? I should have said ermine...anyway. I saw several tracks similar to those I saw on the Indian river trail, that is small, weasel-like with tail drag. All of the tracks I've seen this week have a very tidy look to them. Two side by side tracks with the back feet registering in the front. Frequently with a tail drag. There are a few spots where the mink dove under the snow and other spots where there were slides. Haven't seen any sign of otter or deer this week, but I wasn't venturing too far off the trail.
This morning at the dock saw 7 mallards, 4 common mergansers, 3 Barrow's goldeneyes, a heron, and 2 buffleheads. Not much on the way across, but it was on the choppy side.
Stopped briefly at Starrigavan around 11am. Saw a couple of widgeons in the crowd of mallards and mergansers. There was an odd looking sparrowlike bird flying around the ducks and landing at the waters edge, but I never did get a good look at it. Marge and Tedin were just leaving as I got there, hopefully they got a look at it.
It was kind of difficult doing the channel count today. The snow berm was high enough that I had trouble seeing above it, had to wander up and down the edge to find the best view. I didn't feel like wading through it today, although I'm sure I would have if I had been with my class.
72 Scaup, 63 Long-tails, 2 Bufflehead, 14 Common mergansers, 56 Glaucous-winged gulls, 1 Mew gull, 7 Thayers gulls, 2 Pelagic cormorants, 1 raven and 1 crow.

The east wind made the ride home tonight a little on the wild side. It was the direction that the gusts don't hit the boat until almost Morne island and they are particularly strong around Gilmore islands. The wind was strong enough in the commons that it erased most signs of the mornings trail. No owl, but I didn't lift my head up too often, the wind favored looking at the ground (-9 wind chill). The snow was covered in small tracks that look right for sparrows.