The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.
We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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October 16, 2019
SalishSea, PacificNorthwest
Blustery day yesterday. I grabbed a window between the gale wind and pouring rain to go out for my walkies. Halfway along I was gifted with a sighting well worth the rain that started just then.
First Red-breasted mergansers of fall. These ducks migrate up to Alaska and northern Canada to breed. Birds of North America calls them “late breeders”, with young fledging into September. They will hang out in the shallow waters of the SalishSea until spring, feeding on fish. birdsna.org/...
Previous FOS sightings here by me:
2018: 0ct 30
2017: Oct 15
2016: Oct 9
2015: Oct 25
2014: Oct 13
So their arrival on Oct 16 is pretty typical.
Thirteen of them. These are all hens and youngsters. I’ll see the brightly colored drakes later on.
RB mergansers always flock. Later in the season they may break up into smaller flocks but they benefit from numbers since some can be underwater or periscoping while others keep an eye out for danger above.
There were some other birds out in the bay too.
A pair of Horned grebes —
Great Blue Heron —
A random mallard. That’s weird. Nothing for them to feed on here.
Small flock of Mew gulls, also winter migrants. Mews like feeding off the surface, small arthropods of some sort I expect, washed toward shore, concentrated in this zone for easy pickings.
All these busily feeding birds were oblivious to the waves, surf spray, and pouring rain. I was getting wet though. Tucked my camera into my jacket and headed home.
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Stormy today in the PNW islands, raining pretty hard. Blustery, wind out of the southeast. Temps in 50s.
What’s up in nature in your area today?
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Note: I’ll be traveling next week, so no buckets. Have nature news for these recent buckets now, before I depart.