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The Daily Bucket - hints of nesting in the bay [1]

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Date: 2025-06-10

Early June, 2025

Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest

Every day on my walk I stop by my closest bay and sit, watching what’s going on for a little while. There’s no road by this bay and most property owners are absentees, even in summer, so human interference is minimal. Being summer it’s mostly very quiet since the ducks are gone for the season but there have been hints of local birds nesting.

Canada geese

Several pairs of geese have been cruising the bay with goslings in tow every day. A small island in the bay is a common spot for geese to nest.

One family

Black Oystercatchers

Last Tuesday there was a bit of multi-species ruckus. Two Olympic gulls were parked on one rock in the bay, minding their own business. Suddenly they lifted off and began screaming, so I knew to look up. Indeed, an eagle had flown low over their rock. The eagle landed on another rock and a second eagle joined it there. The gulls swooped over them a few times, telling them what for, and then flew over to the big rock farther out in the bay. Immediately oystercatchers began screaming at the gulls over there. That was my hint that oystercatchers are nesting on that rock, on the far side where I can’t see them. They have nested there before.

Eagles meeting up on rock. Gull divebombing them….

…then retreating to the far rock

…where an oystercatcher screamed at and tackled them. They were all yelling for about 10 minutes, after which the gulls gave up, and left. Sometimes it’s tough being a gull.

(You might be able to see the momentary delay between when the oystercatcher appears to call and when we hear the sound, at the end of the clip when I zoom way in. The rock is 250 yards away, far enough for a perceptible difference between the speed of light and sound.)



One and sometimes two oystercatchers are occasionally visible on the top of that rock, most recently yesterday. Most of the rock is on the other side of the highest point, and it’s flatter there too, more suitable for ground-nesting. I’ve been seeing them out there this year since mid May. Oystercatchers have a long nesting season.

Rough-winged swallows

No photos possible of the pair entering or departing their burrow in the bank but they are busy catching insects most days, and then coming and going to the burrow.

Kingfishers

Parents appeared to be coaxing nestlings from their burrow on Thursday and Friday. Kingfishers nest in the clay bank that lines the bay (like the Rough-winged swallows). First a male then later female stood on a rock by the beach chattering while holding a fish in their beaks, looking steadily toward the bank. I didn’t see any fledglings coming out to join them. I waited 10-15 minutes both days.

Mom, Thursday 6/5

Dad, Thursday 6/5

From Birds of the World:

Fledglings depart from the burrow 27-29 d after hatching. Three or four days before departure, adults curtail their feeding and nestlings lose weight (Hamas 1975). With a fish in its bill, an adult often calls to the young from a nearby perch outside the burrow, while young respond with begging calls from the entrance of the burrow. Upon emerging from the burrow, fledglings are capable of limited sustained flight. Fledglings remain with their parents for approximately 3 wk and are fed by them (Figure 7), though not regularly.

Mom again, Friday 6/6

All these rocks and some of the clay bank are visible from where I sit:

The bay is flat calm at this season. The rocks out there make for good nesting and perching spots. It’s about 25 feet down the bank to the beach from where I sit.

We’ll see who appears in upcoming days. It’s a quietly busy time out there.

🦅

Continued sunny, calm and dry in the PNW islands today. Warm for June. Precipitation is well below normal for this time of year.

What’s up in nature in your neighborhood?

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