Lots of Birds While Paddling Around the Russian River Estuary

Thursday December 15, 2022 Jenner CA.

Paddle day

Looked like a good day to do it, so I did. I drove on down to the river at Jenner around 1 today and put my boat in the water at the ramp. No one else was on the water which always amazes me. The wind was down nicely too.

I was planning to paddle up the river and back but once I had a look, I changed my mind and paddled down river instead, to the right there. I could hear the ocean waves beating against the shoreline, so off I went.

Down river

I started paddling down river, leisurely as that’s the way I do it. I could see a bunch of birds up ahead, lots of them.

Lots of birds

These were mostly gulls resting on the end of Penny Island.

And some were in the water bathing and preening after a hard day fishing in the ocean.

Mouth area

From there, I crossed over the river headed down to the river’s mouth area where it flows into the ocean. I could see lots of birds down that way too.

Gulls with a few pelicans mixed in.

A few more brown pelicans. They seem to bunch together. Birds of a feather flock together.

More birds in front of the mouth.

And more birds resting on the sandy beaches.

River’s mouth

Every once and awhile, the ocean would pound a big wave up on the old jetty, making some roaring noises, looking out the mouth here.

I spent a couple hours sitting in my boat just watching stuff and enjoying the day.

Headed back

Then I started heading back going by these birds and around the back side of the island to the right.

I spotted these cows grazing up on the grassy hill tops. The grass is just starting to green up.

I started to paddle by this great blue heron when it spooked and took off in front of me.

I’m headed into the Jenner boat ramp after a nice paddle.

That was a nice paddle. Being near the ocean makes one tired so I went on home and it was nap time.

Nice day.