Thursday June 4, 2015 Jenner CA.
Headed down to the river’s mouth area
Steve was at the boat ramp when I pulled into Jenner this morning so we put our boats in the water and paddled across to the little channel at the upper end of Penny Island to decide which way to go today. Since we hadn’t been down to the river’s mouth for a few days and the wind was down some,………….. but still windy, we decided to head down to the mouth area.
As we were sitting there discussing that, I noticed this little ducky swimming by with no mommy? I thought it a bit young to have no momma. I looked around and didn’t see any other ducks. I hope the little guy makes it by itself.
Winds picking up
The wind started to pick up some as we neared the lower end of the Penny island. We pulled into this spot on the lower end of the island out of the wind, before continuing on to the mouth area.
River’s mouth area
This was our view as we entered the river’s mouth area. The mouth is mostly closed, but open just a little behind the jetty, so the estuary’s water level is quite high. Lots of harbor seals were resting on the sandy beach. It was going to high tide so some big waves were breaking on the ocean beach on the other side of all this. I think the biologists call the mouth, perched, in this state.
End of the river
We paddled on down to the end of the river where we saw these geese resting on the sand. There’s a couple ducks there too.
We got a good view of these brown pelicans as they flew by, but didn’t land. Steve is checking them out.
In some ways we paddle around in a fishbowl
We could see this lady up on the overlook with this big lens and camera. At first I thought she might be a seal biologist, but looking at her, I remember seeing her the other day. I think her car said PetSmart on it, so she’s just a lady taking pictures. I tend to ignore the fact that a lot of times, we are like fish in a fishbowl paddling around down in this area.
Headed out, up the river
We sat around the area in the wind for a bit, then decided to head on up the river, so we headed out.
We passed by some surf scoter ducks and here is one of them that was swimming close to me which flew into the air just after this picture was taken. They have real colorful bills.
We also went by these seagulls resting on the sandy beach, just taking it easy.
Slot view of Jenner
Steve wanted to go over to the slot near the bottom end of Penny island to get out of the wind, so we paddled over to it and sat for a bit. This was the view from that spot, looking over Penny Island to the town of Jenner. Some nice big clouds in the sky.
Drifting up the river
We paddled on up the back channel of Penny Island, well, not paddled really as the wind was blowing us up that way fairly well, so we mostly just drifted along.
We were drifting into these cormorants resting on this log which put a bit of pressure on them. Two flew off and one stayed.
Sat at Muskrat
We drifted all the way up to what I call Muskrat and sat there for quite a spell watching and resting with the wind blowing fairly strong.
What’s that
Something caught my attention across the river on the hillside where the horses hang out. It was the two horses running here and running there as I watched. They appeared to be just running around enjoying themselves as far as I could see. Running because they are horses? Anyway, here they are as I saw them.
A loon joins me
Steve paddled across the river to put on another layer of clothing while I stayed at Muskrat. I noticed this loon was coming in real close to me, about thirty feet and just staying close like that.
Here’s the loon.
It seemed to be using me as protection. A lot of my pictures of it shows it has it’s eyes closed a lot. Snoozing maybe.
See, eyes closed.
The loon stayed in close like that even when Steve returned from the other side of the river and it was still there when we left and started back down the river.
The wind dropped a little as we headed back in to the boat ramp for the day.
When I got home, I mostly puttered around the yard until dark and that was my day.
