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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Highest levels yet….

It has been a few days since I’ve posted anything….that is because we are dealing with all the complications the highest water levels we’ve seen since this area was developed – in fact, possibly the highest water levels in 40 years, can and are causing…..

June 24, 2012 - Tapadera

so I guess I will start with as close to the boat launch as we can now get – I understand that the marker post has now either floated away or at least the water levels are over the top of it….

Log Bay June 19, 2012

over at Eagle Point park….this is the situation as a couple of evenings ago -

water on the wrong side of the berm at Eagle Point

water is now on the wrong side of the berm…

Hope the bear can swim!

and any Bear in the area better really like water!!

Goin for the gold

we are not without birds though!  In fact the area is absolutely packed with birds….like this Cedar Waxwing

Baby Rufous Hummingbird

and this, one of many young Rufous Hummingbirds.  There is also a super abundance of not only young Black Capped Chickadees, but now Chestnut-backed as well.

The 'estuary?'

and this, I think, is one of the reasons for the concentration of birds.  Usually, in normal ‘high water’ years, there are still lots of areas of bush out there – there might be water all around the bushes, but there is still lots of bush out of the water creating nesting and feeding areas for birds – not this year, in fact I wonder how many nests have been lost to this high water.

Water level and Morris Valley road

this shows water levels in relation to the road, and this is one of the ‘better’ areas…

can't get much closer without being on it

another 3 inches and this corner will be getting wet – there was a Black Bear at this corner again today but vehicles scared it into the bushes before we could get a picture.

The campground

headed over to Harrison Bay at Kilby….this is the campground – closed of course!

Boat launch parking lot

and the boat launch parking lot….now if you go back a few posts you’ll see how this looked just a week ago – and that will show you how much the water has come up in just one week…and now they say the ‘peak’ is another week away!

the railway bridge

not a lot of room between the top of the water and the bottom of the railway bridge…

Spotted Sandpiper in flooded cornfield

there really shouldn’t be Spotted Sandpipers running around in the cornfields – but then there shouldn’t be all that water in the cornfield either!

Closer look

Do want to show these pretty wildflowers growing on the edge of the dike – they are Viper’s Bugloss…more often seen in the interior, in fact couldn’t find them in my ‘Coastal Wildflower book’ – had to go to the Southern Interior one…

The river, and the road

took a drive to see the Fraser River….the dike road has been gated off and no wonder when you see how close the river is to the road and how fast the river is flowing!

Waxwings by the river

there were lots of Cedar Waxwings here too – flying out and catching insects….on the subject of which, because temperatures have stayed cool we haven’t had much in the way of mosquitoes yet, but if the weather warms up, boy are we in for a bad year bug wise!  Which reminds me that I’m pretty sure I’ve heard some Common Nighthawks as couple of times – which would be a very good thing as we’ll need ever bug eating bird and bat we can find!

WaxWing behind grasses

really like this Waxwing picture, even though the bird is sort of hidden by the grass seed heads…

flooded cornfield

a quick drive into Agassiz and the area ‘outside’ the dike and that is a flooded cornfield…

The Harrison River from the bridge

back, with a stop at the east end of the Harrison River bridge – that is our Harrison river and that is our ‘estuary’ up there….

Sandpiper Golf Course

golf anyone?  As mentioned before all the ‘song birds’ have been really concentrated – but where are the water birds?  Where are the ducks?  Where are the geese?  all that water and not a bird to be seen!  I guess we need to get out on the water but that won’t be happening for a while. There have been Osprey flying around and the occasional Turkey Vulture and we’ve heard a Common Loon….but

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