I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of both Covid 19 and gray skies. I endured the first year of Covid 19 seclusion fairly well, but this year has become depressing. It might be more bearable if the weather here in the Pacific Northwest was better and I could get out in Nature more often, but the only sunshine I’ve seen recently was during our recent snowshoeing trip to Mt. Rainier where we could look down into the clouds covering the Puget Sound Area. I desperately need a trip to Colorado or Santa Rosa sunshine.
That said, on the days when it’s not raining, I’m still determined to experience the beauty that is to be found nearby. With that goal, we set out with Paul to Ft. Flagler and Port Townsend on a recent Sunday and ended up seeing many of the same birds that we had seen a few weeks earlier. On our walk out to the point we were greeted by a small flock of Sanderlings running in and out of the water hunting for food
and a little further along a large part of the flock still sleeping in.
Nearing the point, we saw Brants that appeared to be gradually splitting off into pairs.
An unexpected treat was the sighting of a Black Oystercatcher that scurried away as soon as it sighted us.
For the second visit in a row, though, I didn’t see a single Harlequin Duck or a single Black-bellied Plover, two of my favorites. Once again, I had to wait until we were leaving to see what was probably the same pair we saw on our last visit.
While I was trying to get a shot of the Harlequins, a Bald Eagle buzzed us, making me suspect that it may well be the reason we haven’t seen the Harlequins on recent visits.
People are generally thrilled to see Bald Eagles in areas where they haven’t been seen before, but other species see them from a very different perspective as they are forced to disperse to avoid becoming a “sitting duck” for nearby eagles.