Wednesday November 12, 2014 Jenner CA.
Ray already had his boat in the water when I arrived at Jenner today. I put my boat in the water and joined him over by Penny Island. We decided to go down and see what was going on at the closed river mouth, so we headed on down that way.
On the way, we went by these grebe that have been hanging around for a couple weeks now in the estuary in this area.
Some brown pelicans flew by as we approached the mouth area.
Mouth is still closed up tight
We put our boats ashore where the river’s mouth was last opened, which is now closed in this spot.
The Pacific Ocean
We got out and walked up onto the ocean beach. This is a photo looking north on the ocean. Some seagulls on the beach.
And this is the view we had looking south, down the ocean shoreline towards Goat Rock, which is in the middle of this picture.
While we were checking out the ocean, Ray says there’s a seagull checking out your boat. There sure was. Lucky , it didn’t make any messes.
Brown Pelicans
We hung around the mouth area for an hour or so, then headed on back up the river to the east end of Penny Island, passing these brown pelicans taking a bath.
This pelican was preening by some seagulls as we passed.
Old man otter
A couple days ago, we spied a couple otters on this redwood log and today there was another one on the log as we entered the flooded Penny Island. This one was more relaxed than the two we saw the other day and didn’t seem to mind us much. I think this is an old man that I’ve seen several times before and I’ve taken some good pictures of it as it doesn’t seem to mind our presence.
It was taking a nap, but did keep an eye on us.
Paddling into the the flooded Penny Island
We left that otter napping and continued to paddle on into the flooded island were we stayed for a half hour or so enjoying the day.
When we left, we looked for the otter on the log, but it was gone, so we headed around to the back channel of the island and headed up the river.
I spied a hawk of some kind on a tree on the island.
The estuary water level is almost static right now
We took our time rounding the island and headed on in for the day. I checked the water level gauge at the visitor center. It read about 7.4 feet, which was about what it read a couple days ago. This means the level of the water has reached an almost static level, which isn’t going to rise much more, unless it rains hard or the ocean gets rough enough to put water over the sandbar. It’s almost a neutral state.
Nice day paddling around the estuary.
Bob, I just found your blog and I love it! You have some amazing photographs. I think the bird photo your posted called “A New Bird” is a juvenile Bonaparte’s Gull. I could be wrong, but if you google images of a the bird as a juvenile, it sure looks like the bird you photographed. Thank you for making a great blog about the beautiful nature to be found in Sonoma County.
Hi Libby,
I think you are mostly right on the Bonaparte gall. I did find that they have a black hood during breeding season and look like the gull I took a photo of when not in breeding season, so this one is likely an adult. Thanks for the info, now if I can only remember? :O)
Bob
Hi Dennis,
If that is same otter, I think I first saw it about eight years ago in Monte Rio. Of course, I can’t be real sure about that, being the same one I mean. :O)
I’m glad to see “old man” otter still around. When I saw him last (the day they breached the mouth) I thought maybe he was a sick one, as he let me get way too close to him. Now that you mention it, I’m a little less intense as I age, too!