Sunday July 13, 2014 Jenner CA.
I got up this morning and just puttered around doing nothing in the yard, enjoying the morning. I was going down to Jenner to kayak today, but it was so nice, I wasn’t in any hurry to get down there.
Found another person that checks out the lumens
I left for Jenner around 2PM. When I got there, there were people on the boat ramp, but they were considerate enough to leave room for me to back my car in. I thanked them for being considerate and was talking to the lady. Turns out, this lady and her husband had been checking out the lumens in Tomales Bay, eight times, she said.
Well, isn’t that interesting. I finally found someone else that was checking out lumens. I gave her my blog address and put my boat in the water and headed across the river to Penny Island and on up the river, headed to Paddy’s rock at my slow, leisurely pace.
This was my view as I approached Paddy’s rock white pelicans were flying up the river and there were some merganser ducks resting on the shore line.
Terns were fishing
As I watched, occasionally, a tern would make a big dive into the water close by, such as this one that is just coming out of it dive into the water, empty beaked.
The white pelicans were up to something?
The white pelicans flew back into the area and circled for about fifteen minutes over the paddy’s rock area. Not sure what they were doing. Looking for fish in the water or just riding a wind current?
Thinking of Sherry and her loons
Last night I was reading Sherry’s blog about her getting some loon pictures, which I thought was a pretty good method.
http://directionofourdreams.blogspot.com/
I thought I’d try her method of getting close. The only problem was my loon wasn’t diving, so that didn’t work too good, but I sat still and got closer, until I was about six feet from the loon I was watching.
I’m about six feet from this loon and it doesn’t seem too concerned. It’s just about to step out of the water and waddle onto the gravel.
Loons don’t seem to do well on land
Watching this loon climb out of the water, it looks to me like loons can barely move on land, like their feet are more for swimming then walking, unless this one is just hurt in some way. Watching it, it was very awkward.
I sat and watched it for a bit, taking pictures.
Of course, at that range, it watched me back.
After that, I paddled back across the river and started heading on down it. I stopped at this spot, just above otter’s log for a rest before continuing on, looking on down the river towards the town of Jenner.
Paddled over to John’s house
I went on down the island back channel and was working my way down to the river’s mouth, when I saw John, the guy who picks up most of trash around the Jenner area, getting his kayak in the water. I talked with him for a bit and he joined me as we went over to the river’s mouth and watched.
Looking from John’s house over to the river’s mouth area.
Harbor seals
There were lots of harbor seals resting on the sand at the mouth area.
Here’s just a few of the harbor seals.
I checked out how the dead harbor seal was dong that I spotted the other day. Still a little left of it, the one with the raven sitting on it.
John followed me back towards my car as I had some wheels for him to make a kayak cart for his kayak. There were some nice clouds in the sky as we went, looking back up the river.
Not sure what the great blue herons where up to?
The great blue herons were up to something near the west end of Penny Island, as there were several of them in the area, but they must have been full or waiting for something to happen, as they were all just sitting around, like this one.
Immature turkey vultures sitting on Penny Island again
The other day, I thought I saw two immature turkey vultures sitting on a tree limb on Penny Island. I thought these might be the same two I’d seen in their nest up the river a little ways, over a month ago, in their white feathers.
Today, they were still on the island sitting. Their mother was there too today. Here is one of the immature youngsters. Big birds, don’t usually just fly off the nest and are ready to go. They usually fly off the nest as soon as they are able and then start there training in the trees until they are mature enough to take care of themselves. The parents feed and train them until they are ready to go it on their own.
Here is one of the immature turkey vultures I went past. Notice the white feathers on it, which I think indicate it’s a young one and the bird looks rather small too.
It was just after six PM as John and I hit the boat ramp. I gave John the wheels I had for him for his kayak cart and went on home for the day.
About all I was good for, was a nap and that’s what I did.
Another interesting day kayaking Jenner.