We've had an amazing amount of rain here on the island recently. Last weekend alone we got 1.5 inches - that's more than 7% of our average annual total of 20 inches. What that means is most of the wildlife watching has continued to be done from the front porch, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been a lot to see! There have been regular visits from this female hooded merganser:
Then yesterday, a family of river otters swam by. It was getting too dark out for photos, so I tried shooting a couple of short video clips. Here's one of them:
There won't be any more reports from the island until 2011, as next up I'm heading to Portland for Christmas Eve, and then to Toronto and New York for a couple of weeks. There should be a few good east coast birds to sneak onto year bird list before the end of 2010, even under all that snow!
more otters in your back yard than we've had in our town in the last 60 years! Great back yard tick!
ReplyDeleteCheers
Davo
PS enjoy the east and have a good Christmas
Aren’t videos fun.
ReplyDeleteSaw my very first hooded merganser on the island. Not from your perch, I had walked a trail to the pretty little pond you come to driving past the light house. It was a bright day and to my surprise I had come to spend a weekend on the island the same weekend that flocks of other mainlanders had come to sing to the whales. They were EVERYWHERE. I thought I would get some solitude on a trail by the pond. A shy hoodie was my welcome company. That week was my first for Pacific Loons and finding a dolphin in my scope from the County Park.
Hope to read about the east like we did about Alaska
Dave - That'll all change soon I hope!
ReplyDeleteRainsong - Hooded mergansers nest on that little pond you described. I'll definitely continue to update my blog on my upcoming adventures!