Bobcat, Birds and I Ruined the Camera

Friday November 6, 2015 Jenner CA.

The sun was out and the wind was down as I put my boat in at Jenner this morning. I could see some sea lions hunting around in front of the visitor center. Larry, a guy who takes photos from the overlook showed up and said hi. He said the sea lions were in the estuary and eating salmon. We talked a bit, then he went off and I put my boat in the water and headed down towards the river’s mouth area.

Near the  end of Penny Island I ran into some geese on the water and paddled on past them.

There were some birds and harbor seals resting on the beach by the open mouth. This is looking out the open mouth into the Pacific ocean as I was approaching.

What are the vultures eating

But some turkey vultures caught my eye off to the right, so I veered over there to see what they had to eat.

Here’s a couple of the turkey vultures I checked out.

They were eating a young cow that had died up river someplace. Note the one on the carcass is likely the young bird from the nest I was checking out last summer. It still has a black head and this is the only black headed one I’ve seen around here, as far as I can tell. It seems to know me and doesn’t fly off like the other birds, at least not as soon. Which also means it gets more to eat.

From there, I continued on over to the open mouth and sat in my boat in front of it in this spot. It was low tide so I had to be careful as lots of water was flowing on out into the ocean and I didn’t want to go with it. Lots of harbor seals beached there today, just taking it easy, likely after a successful morning of feeding.

Eventually, I paddled over to my spot just to the left of the open mouth and sat here watching the goings on. This seagull walked over close to me and got a drink of water.

Met John

I stayed down at the mouth for about an hour, then started back up the river when I saw John over at his house putting his kayak in the water. He joined me as we both paddled up along the shoreline, just below the restaurant, River’s End.

Bobcat, quiet John

I saw some movement on the shore and signaled John to be quiet and look. I saw a bobcat go behind this big rock and went over to see if it came out the other side an saw it sitting there by the rock. See it?

It’s usually a good idea to paddle away, so as not to spook it,  but I was on a drift right towards it and paddling would only scare it away now, so I sat motionless and took pictures.

Eventually, my boat got too close and it walked into the bushes in back of the big rock and it was gone.

Lots of exposed shoreline

When the mouth is opened up, it exposes a lot of shoreline. Lots of stuff that was living in the water dies and it’s a good time to look for critters and birds feeding on stuff they find along the shoreline.

Eventually, a lot of that stuff will start to stink smelling like the ocean and some eagles may also appear which I think might be attracted by the smell.

I left John at the boat ramp as he was headed to get his mail at the post office. I paddled across the river to Penny Island and started working my way up the river.

Penny Island on the right. Low tide, so lots of shoreline is exposed.

I crossed over the river to Paddy’s rock where these cormorants were resting with some cattle.

What’s this vulture eating

Just above Paddy’s rock, I saw this vulture pecking at something small by it’s feet, but I couldn’t make it out, so I paddled closer until it moved off.

I couldn’t tell what it was pecking at, so I took a couple of photos. It looks like the head of a small fish.

At that point, I turned and started back down the river looking for birds on the north shoreline.

I passed by these cormorants.

I could see a bunch of birds down a ways which turned out to be a big flock of mud hens or coots feeding on the grasses there. They seem to be getting used to me going by as they didn’t take off like they usually do.

Roofs coming along

I paddled back over to Penny Island and down it’s shoreline and crossed over to the boat ramp. The guys have the roof all prepped up and are now putting down some sort of newer paper I hadn’t seen used before, an undercoat like tar paper. They’ve done a lot of repairs on the roof wood and things are looking good.

I had to wait a long time for that car to move off the boat ramp. It seems they were off some where’s and just think leaving the car on the ramp is ok, but it’s certainly not ok with me. I was patient and didn’t light into them, but I should have as they deserved it, but I just didn’t feel like getting pissed off, so I kept  my mouth shut and waited.

I got my boat on the car and went on home for the day.

After a nap, I went out and took my carb off my chainsaw so I can get parts as they don’t make that carb anymore, so I’m going to have to try to fix it or buy a new saw.

About that wet camera, I fried it

I fried it as in burned it up. Yesterday, I put it in my toaster oven at a low temp to dry it and evaporate the water out of it. I evaporated the water ok,…………….but.

The toaster oven is small and the top of the camera was too close to the heating element in the top and some buttons got melted a bit. Usually, I just put it out on some hot asphalt for a few days, but there didn’t seem to be any hot asphalt right now, so I tried the oven and blew it. It’s ok, I think there was way too much water in the lens area anyway, so that camera is trash. It’s been a good camera and I’ve gotten a lot of good photos with it.

I may or may not replace it. I’m thinking about it. I’m sorta leaning towards a newer replacement, maybe a Sony instead of a Canon? No rush unless I ruin my other camera.

That was my day for another nice one.