Is the Sun or the Fog Going to Win

MP was cheering for the sunshine, I thought if we were going to be out on the beach for hours I'd just as soon have it foggy at least half the time.

Little James Island from Rialto Jetty, 9/25/09 (Click for larger image.)

After a while the sun took control where we were, which made MP happy. Off to the north you could see that the fog had not surrendered. The tide was coming back, the waves were beautiful, the gulls flying past were shining in the sunlight, there were not so many people on the beach, oh it was a fine day.

Tide Coming Back, Ellen Creek reach of Rialto, 9/25/09 (Click for larger image.)

This was Friday, we were out there to do the COASST survey of the three Rialto beach segments. We are keeping up the frequent resurveys for as long as the algae bloom is happening and the birds are still dying in elevated numbers (which I said I would not mention any more, sorry); and they asked if I was up for doing all three Rialto segments, instead of my usual two.

MP wanted to come, to see how it is done. We had a total of four birds. On Rialto Jetty, refound a white-winged scoter that AE and I had tagged on the 21st. On the Ellen Creek beach, two new birds, a common murre and a white-winged scoter. On the Hole-in-the-Wall beach, a surf scoter. We were working against the incoming tide by that point. MP went on to Hole-in-the-Wall to see if there were any more birds to work while I did #767, the surf scoter.

The minute she walked away I rediscovered that left alone with a dead bird I become excited and confused. My 'cootie discipline'—being careful about what I touch with the gloves, what I don't touch without the gloves— lapses entirely, and I find myself doing things like cinching down the tags with one glove off and one glove on; I flip the ID guide madly to and fro, change my mind over and over, remeasure, and forget to write everything down. I've put all the ID photos on a CD so don't need to show any here, but: wing feather detail of #765, a common murre if I got it right (you may remember that the last murre I thought I had turned out to be a rhinoceros auklet); and #767, a female surf scoter.

We had time to sit for a while in the sun and watch the waves, see the gulls fly by. Only a handful of pelicans, they must all be already well south of here. On the way home we went up the Sol Duc to see if the fish were jumping at Salmon Cascades. There were a few fish in the pool below, cruising around, but nobody jumped. Have to wait until after the next rain, probably, to watch Life At Its Most Determined. But it was nice to see the river.

Salmon Cascades, Sol Duc River, 9/25/09 (Click for larger image.)