Monday November 10, 2014 Jenner CA.
I was surprised to see so many people putting in their boats this morning at Jenner. Must be a holiday?
I got my boat in the water without too much trouble. I was just ready to get in the water when some people plopped their boat down right where I needed to go. I asked them to move it just a little and I was able to get into the water.
Off I went headed up the river. I passed this black harbor seal which seems to have just returned from somewhere. It was here last year, looking rather young, I’d say it’s two or three years old now. It’s one of the ones that spend a good deal of time in the estuary most of the time. There’s four to six seals that mostly stay in the estuary full time, at least as far as I can till. I think this one was born to a chocolate looking one that stays in the river most of the time.
I think I should call this one Blackie as it always has a nice looking black coat.
Fogs moving in
I headed across the river to the north side to look for birds along the shoreline, but didn’t see many. However I did see the fog starting to creep in.
I rounded Paddy’s rock where I spied these cormorants getting the last sun rays before the fog took over.
I crossed back over to the south side of the river and continued on up to Muskrat Nest beach area, staying ahead of the fog for a bit, but it did take over the whole area shortly after this picture.
I hung out in the Muskrat area poking around checking the shoreline, looking for more places to put ashore when the water is high like this. The fog continued to move in and a chill was in the air from the moving fog.
Eventually, I started moving back down the river where I ran into some grebes and cormorants fishing.
Here’s one of the grebe.
And one of the cormorants.
I continued working my way back down the south shoreline and passed the black seal again and another seal and a cormorant. They didn’t seem to mind that I passed fairly close.
Headed to the flooded Penny Island
I considered going in for the day, but didn’t. Instead, I decided to head down to the flooded Penny Island and passed by these coots in the reeds.
Just past them, I ran into a few more coots feeding on vegetable matter below the water. Looking down towards the ocean.
Is that an otter or a log?
Just past that, I thought I might be seeing an otter sticking up on a log by the shore, but I wasn’t sure. It sure looked like a log. As I got closer the log dove into the water and was gone. I’ve learned that whenever I think I might see something to get the camera ready, but I didn’t this time, so no picture.
I worked my way into the flooded island where the water was flat, so I stayed a spell, thinking that otter might appear here, but it didn’t.
Headed for the closed river’s mouth area
It was still a bit chilly, maybe fifty degrees F. or so, not really that bad and I considered going in for the day, but decided to go on down to the river’s closed mouth where it was even foggier.
Lots of seagulls
There were lots of seagulls on the water and on the shore down by the mouth. Every once in awhile something would spook all the seagulls and they would fly into the air. One must be a little careful when that many birds fly into the air as one might just get bombed.
But, I’ve learned from past experience that they don’t bomb me, which is a good thing, as if they waned to, they could sure make a mess of me. I do get hit from them sometimes, but I’ve learned it’s just water off their bodies when they fly into the air from the water.
Just to be on the safe side, I’ve learned not to make them mad for any reason as I think they might do their bombing thing and I don’t’ want to find out about that? :O)
Here’s a few of the seagulls on the shoreline, with a pelican mixed in too. I’d say there were well over five hundred seagulls present today.
River’s mouth
The river’s mouth is still closed, but I could see where some water is still breaking over during the higher high tides and rough seas, but not very much as the sand is fairly high right now.
I went over to Haystack rock at the end of the river and sat and watched for a bit. By now, it was around two pm, so most of the other people had already left the water for the day.
Fogs lifting a bit
Around three pm, I headed on in for the day, as the fog started to lift higher into the sky.
At the visitor center I checked the estuary level gauge, which read about 7.2 feet, which means the river is only rising about an inch or so a day, so it will be awhile before the mouth is opened, or they might open it, just to let the spawning fish come into the river that are out in the ocean waiting for it to open.
The river was looking real nice as I pulled my boat out of the water, but I was tired out, so I went on home for a good nap.
Another day passed while I spent the day, just enjoying the passage of time.