Sunday March 8, 2015, Jenner CA.
Set the clocks ahead
I remembered to set my clocks ahead last night before going to bed. I did sleep in an extra hour this morning to make up for it, so I mostly made the transition to Daylight savings time without too much trouble.
I headed on down to Jenner to kayak for the day. There was a little fog, but it was clearing as I put my boat in the water. The wind was down for now, but was expected to pick up a bit this afternoon, which it did, but not too bad.
Headed up the river
My view as I headed on up the river, just above Penny Island.
There’s still quite a few golden eye ducks in the estuary. I passed by this male.
My view as I paddled by Muskrat Nest beach headed just a little ways further up the river. Only as far as you can see to Dead Deer Gulch.
As far as I went
This is as far as I went up the river to this spot where I sat around watching for awhile, looking down the river towards the small town of Jenner. The wind was picking up just a little by now.
Turkey vultures across the river
From that spot, I could see some turkey vultures doing something across the river from me, so I crossed over to see what was going on. Some birds were in the grassy field eating on something, but I couldn’t make out what. This Turkey vulture caught my eye. It looked like it was just enjoying the ground for a bit. Not taking a dirt bath or anything, just laying it‘s head on the ground for a bit. Maybe that’s something they might do since they are mostly always real high up in the air? First time I’ve seen one do this though. Maybe practicing nesting?
Working my way down the north shoreline, I passed by this seagull resting on the gravel.
Don’t usually see turtles down here
I continued on down the river and was just above the up river end of Penny Island when I spotted this turtle on a big redwood log. I rarely see a turtle down here in the estuary as I don’t think they like the salty water, but maybe it’s something else. There is more fresh water in the estuary in the winter, so I occasionally see one during this time, but by summer I usually don’t see any turtles, they must work their way back up the river to where the fresh water is?
I headed on down the back channel of Penny Island where these two geese gave the alarm honking as I went by. They didn’t seem to be too bothered though.
Just missed this deer swimming across the river from Penny Island
I was just coming out of the island back channel near what I call the slot, when this deer surprised me. It was all wet, so appeared to have just swam across the channel from Penny Island. Somehow, I’d missed it swimming across as it had to do it just in front of me. It couldn’t get up the bank here and had to walk along the shore until it found a place to get up the bank.
I stopped at the slot for a rest and a look around before continuing on over to the down river end of Penny Island where I saw this killdeer feeding along the waterline.
Headed down to the open river’s mouth area
The wind was up now, but not too bad, so I worked my way down to the open river’s mouth area and had a look around. This harbor seal swam close by me as I sat there in my boat.
Courtship stuff
I was watching this group of merganser ducks doing some courtship stuff, chittering and maneuvering. The female suddenly went after this male as I watched. She didn’t attack, just gave him a good warning.
What are the Ravens up to?
After a good while watching stuff in the mouth area, I headed back up the river when I spotted this raven with another one doing something near the shoreline.
It turned out, the ravens had seen this turkey vulture eating something in the shrubs and wanted their share, but the vulture wasn’t giving anything up to them.
I continued on in to the boat ramp and waited for an opening to take my boat out of the water as the place was fairly busy today with boaters. I made it without too much of a hassle and went on home for the day.
I got the grass mower started
With daylight savings time and all, the day was still early, so I got the grass mower going and mowed the new well site and made some mow trails in the green grasses so I could walk around in it easier. It’s too early to mow the grass yet. There’s still a lot of growing time, so I don’t like to waste my time mowing and besides, I like green grass.
The mowed new well site, ready for the driller which I’m hoping will be here this week sometime.
After that, I sat around in the yard enjoying the day until I went on in for a nap and that was my day for another nice one.