Pump Testing, Seals Eating Salmon and Bald Headed Eagles Too

Sunday September 4, 2015 Jenner CA.

Testing the well pump

This morning I put the parts together that I needed to do a test on the well pump to see if it was good or bad. I rounded up a plastic barrel and filled it with water and wired up the pump. The unit I put on the pump had a gauge and faucet  on it to check to see if the pump would pump up to pressure or not. I turned on the pump and it came up to pressure so that is good to go. Only problem now is the well doesn’t have any water in it, so I’m going to have to think about getting another well drilled. This well provides water to my brother’s garden, not to the house.

My barrel with the pump and test rig ready to put in the barrel full of water for the test.

Headed to Jenner for a paddle

After the testing I headed down to Jenner for a paddle. Driving down I could see the river’s mouth had opened as I went past Casini’s ranch where I could see the river.

Jenner was busy, but I was able to get my boat in the water without too much hassle and then I had to park a bit further away today and I was good to go.

Watch that seagull

As I was putting my boat in the water I could see this seagull across the river sitting there which to me is a clue that there might be harbor seals eating a big fish, especially since the mouth had just opened to let the salmon in from the ocean to start their spawning.

Yes the seal has a salmon

I paddled on over to see if I could get any photos of the seal with a big fish and finally I did. The seals eat the fish under water, but come up for air every once in awhile. That fish tail is likely a salmon as they are what is supposed to be coming into the river to spawn right now. With the river’s mouth open the salmon can get into the river. The seagull waits around for pieces of fish that fall off during the eating process.

At least that’s the way I thought it worked, but…………………. Is that seal feeding the seagull some of it’s fish?

So now we know the salmon are running

Eventually, I got too close and the seal moved off with it’s prize and I headed on down along the shore of Penny Island until I got to it’s lower end where I saw another seal and a seagull, so I went over to check them out. I watched for quite some time, but this seal wasn’t going to show me it’s fish.

Here’s the seal and the seagull which I knew had a big fish by how they acted.

Looking for more dead sand sharks

I headed on down to the open river’s mouth going along the sandy beach that is between the river and the ocean. I wanted to keep my eyes open for any more dead sand sharks, but I didn’t’ see any.

I did see this little pie billed grebe which I followed for a bit before it dove and disappeared.

River’s mouth had opened last night

The river’s mouth was open pretty good and the water was flowing out as it was low tide. This was my view as I approached the open mouth. Lots of seals and birds are resting on the beach across from me.

I moved into the open mouth a bit further being careful not to get into the current that would take me out into the ocean. That’s why I stay near the sandy shore.

Apparently the river’s mouth had opened last night from the high winds that blew yesterday, blowing the ocean water over the sand and into the river, which can open the mouth.

This is the open river’s mouth looking out into the Pacific ocean.

What spooked all the birds

Eventually, I moved on down to the end of the river, just past the open mouth and sat and watched all the bird goings on. I was there for some time when all of a sudden all the birds jumped in the air and were flying around. I didn’t think I had scared them and looked around and couldn’t see anything that might have spooked them.

Here the birds spooked and are taking to the air.

Unbeknownst to me, there were two bald headed eagles that just flew in, sitting in a big tree across the river which I would soon discover.

Bald headed eagles

After the birds all took off, I turned and headed across the river to see if John was home when I saw this bald headed eagle flying over my head. Aha, I thought, an eagle spooked the birds.

I watched as the eagle landed on the sand where all the birds used to be.

The eagle has landed on the sand. Some harbor seals are resting in front of it and check out all the birds on the big rock.

Another eagle

I thought that was it for the eagle, so I headed on over to John’s house. On the way over, I spotted another bald headed eagle up in the tree over John’s house, just sitting there.

After taking some pictures of the eagle, I saw John working in his garden so I talked with him for a bit. While talking with him some people were kayaking by and asked if that was indeed an eagle they just saw fly into the tree. I said yes, but then thought about what they said and though, maybe there are now two eagles up in the tree, so I looked up in the tree and sure enough, there were two bald headed eagles up there.

Harbor seal

I headed on up the river past Penny Island where I saw this harbor seal resting on a submerged redwood log out in the middle of the river. I had drifted rather close to it and it didn’t take off so I took some photos of it.

As I continued up the river, I saw some turkey vultures flying around up by Paddy’s rock so I paddled on over to see if they were eating anything. They seemed to be just having a social or resting as I didn’t see them eating anything. Here’s three of them sitting in the grasses.

I seemed to be  pretty tired out, so I headed on in for the day and went on home after saying hi to Patti and Misty who were coming in, in there kayaks.

I couldn’t seem to get it going for the rest of the day, so I just sat around and enjoyed myself.

Nice day paddling around Jenner.