Thursday October 20, 2016 Jenner CA.
The water level was up in the estuary
I noticed a couple things right away this morning as I pulled into Jenner to kayak for the day.
I noticed the estuary’s water level was up meaning the river’s mouth was closed. As I crossed the river over to Penny Island I notice some coots had returned to feed on the dead weeds in the water. They swim around like this and dive for the dead weeds that are underwater. They seem to prefer these dead weeds for some reason and they have been returning in fall in increasing numbers since I’ve been watching them.
Breeching the closed river’s mouth
I also noticed the Sonoma County Water Agency’s excavator was down by the closed river’s mouth which meant they were breeching the sand bar at this very minute to let the estuary water level down, which also opens the river’s mouth up to let spawning fish into the river to do their thing.
Paddling onto Penny Island
With the water level up and getting ready to drop soon I headed for the bottom end of Penny Island as the water was high enough to let me paddle onto the island a bit. I went by this great blue heron as I paddled onto the island.
This was my view as I paddled onto Penny Island. I paddled up as far as I could go looking for critters as I’ve seen river otters hunting and resting in this spot before, but not today.
They’re breeching it
After awhile I paddled back out into the river and started down towards the mouth area with this view.
On the way, I paddled by these grebe which have also returned to the river for the fall.
There were lots of terridactals flying around, or are those pelicans?
Lots of birds in the air as I paddled along.
Water agency has something new
The excavator had done it’s job and was leaving as I approached. That’s an interesting tracked rig behind the excavator the water company has. Looks like an ATV with tracks.
Shooting the bull with John and our new friend
I saw John who lives down here so I went over to shoot the bull with him for a bit. While we were shooting the bull this seagull comes over to join in.
He just sat down by us and didn’t say much. At first I thought it was just anther beggar, but it wasn’t. It was still sitting there when I left John.
They breeched the mouth and left for the ocean to do it’s thing
I paddled over to the breeched mouth area which looked like this.
They breeched the river’s mouth, but the mouth won’t really open wide until tonight when the ocean goes to low tide and all that sand will wash into the sea as it does if all goes as planned. The ocean was fairly rough and making a lot of noise as it crashed into the rocks by the jetty.
Paddled on up the river a bit
I headed on up the river slowly taking my time and pulled into this spot at Muskrat Nest beach where I sat for a good break and did a bit of napping too.
Eventually I started working my way back down the river gong by these cormorants taking it easy on a big redwood log.
I went by this preening great blue heron on the upper end of Penny island.
It stopped to show off it’s plumage as I passed by fairly close.
I headed on in for the day and went on home were I took it easy for the rest of the day. I did dig some more potatoes before it got dark as I have an urge for some French fries tonight.
That’s my day for a nice one.