Life on the Outer Coast

Seems that there are places in the Pacific Northwest where the leaves are red and gold and the sun shines all day long. I'll not dwell on the downside of this part of the world.

Dad and I went to Minto park in the afternoon. Many, many geese, looked like both Dusky Canada and Cackling were in the slough and flying over. I only remember hearing about Duskies when I was a kid, but then cacklers were just another type of Canada goose at that time. Found a report in the Thursday morning Statesman Journal that talked about Cackling geese arriving in mid October and staying through the winter. Guess I need to update my Willamette valley information.

Watched a Great Egret feeding on the far side of the slough. The yellow beak excluded a Snowy egret and the size and lack of brown-red seems to indicate a Great as opposed to a cattle egret, but I'm not totally convinced. . What was kind of interesting was the way it undulated its neck from side to side between strikes. The very bright and warm sun made it a bit difficult to identify most of the birds, but I could make out American Widgeons, Mallards, Coots, Double crested cormorants and Kingfishers.

Doesn't matter how well I know that the leaves of Acer macrophyllum are large, every time I see them I'm impressed. Gathered a bouquet of bright yellow ones for Dad.