Varied Thrush and Swan haven!

Although it is going to say this report is for today, it is actually Sunday, December 4ths report.  By the time I went through all the photos and sent in a count to EBird I'd pretty much had it....so thought I'd hold off until this morning.

So the first news is that finally spotted....

the first Varied Thrush of the season.  I'm afraid this is one of those 'proof it was there' photos.  Hopefully with the predicted cooler weather we will be seeing them regularly now.

We started the day....

with some sunshine and Trumpeter Swans right down in the boat launch...

they stayed very relaxed and snoozing the whole time we were there.

there were, of course, Bald Eagles there two like this pair arguing over a salmon.

Quite the variety of ducks too seen throughout the day, these being American Wigeon....

'out there' looked pretty much as it has done for the last while....water levels continue to go down slowly.

So at noon finally got over to the park.  How long has it been?  I'd think pretty close to 6 weeks.

here we are at the log bay...you'll note some interesting weather in the distance there.

Some new signs have appeared.  Going to have to find out how to get some of those as we could use some at this end too!

in the bay we had some American Coots (2 at bottom of photo) and some of the many Barrow's Goldeneye in the area.

A pair of Mallard that kept diving, presumably for fish eggs.

and more Trumpeter Swans.....

some of the young ones were putting on quite the show for the appreciative audience.

with so many strangers around there weren't many eagle in close but did spot this 4 year old in the eagle tree as we were leaving.

Later walked back down to our end....

where there were quite a few eagles....here a couple of female Common Mergansers swim by....

some of a large number of Hooded Merganser with one female Barrow's Goldeneye (2nd from the front)

speaking of large numbers.....

just a portion of the large number of mainly Glaucous-wing Gulls out there yesterday with some upside down Northern Pintail in the foreground

and not to be forgotten....

this is just a portion of a flock of Pine Siskin in the area.  So far they are sticking to the tree tops, if they start running out of natural food and decide to head to area feeders we will all go broke!

Speaking of feeder birds....

we tend to forget about these guys....the Steller's Jay as we see them so often....

and...

Anna's Hummingbirds are now the most reliably seen and heard species in the area!  This young male has laid claim to the feeder in our yard and can be found constantly in the nearby honeysuckle bush.