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The Daily Bucket - end of summer [1]

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Date: 2025-09-09

End of summer 2025

Pacific Northwest

Early September marks the end of summer here in the islands. We say goodbye to the summer migrants like Rufous hummers, Black-headed grosbeaks, the flycatchers, Swainsons thrushes, waxwings, goldfinches, all the swallows.

Last Rufous hummer sighting: August 21

This was a poor butterfly year, but there was a late flush of Woodland skippers, with a few still around.

Woodland skipper on lavender

It was a very dry summer. Hay farmers harvested early.

The last good grazing spots for livestock in summer are in drainage corridors and on “wetlands”. Around here wetlands dry up in summer, including Otto’s marsh. Here’s what Otto’s looks like in winter:

Otto’s, winter

And here’s what it looks like now. Those dots are cattle grazing in the “wetland”.



Otto’s last Friday

Given how wet this site is most of the year it’s very strange seeing cows wandering around in it! But the ground stayed damp longer here than all the surrounding acreage and supports better forage than in those fields, which the cows find appealing. This report from a state agricultural site is not current but it includes some discussion that gives a sense of the drought stress on vegetation in Western Washington this summer:

Crop progress report 07/25: Dry conditions From NASS Statewide temperatures for the week ending July 25, were above normal. In Whatcom County, drought conditions remained. All crops needed irrigation. Raspberry harvest ended, and blueberry harvest began. In San Juan County, many farms had livestock on stockpiled feed. Many grazing pastures were completely brown. www.wawg.org/...

I think that’s Yellow Pond lily in the lowest spot

Our local chipmunks emerge from their dens in spring and are very active all summer. By this season they are starting their preparations for winter, which means storing up food and staking out territories. They glean sunflower seed dropped by birds below the birdfeeder and the woods are full of their insistent “chuck” calls. Usually chippies are still out and about until early November so we’ll be hearing them for a while.

Townsend’s chipmunk gathering seed

But after Labor Day weekend is when things start really start winding down. The weather is cooling. Kids are heading back to school.

My grandkids and their parents came up for the weekend and we went kayaking/paddleboarding. My granddaughter actually dived into the water a few times — only going to do that in summer!

There’ll still be tourists through September but numbers drop way off after Labor Day. I won’t miss the bicycle-slalom. Bicyclists come up here in groups of two to thirty and it can be hazardous sharing the roads since ours have no shoulders. It’s especially bad on curves and where the road dips and side roads junction. At least these days all bicyclists wear helmets.

Notice we’re in the left lane to avoid the bicyclists. No curve but there’s a dip in the road ahead.

This is a dangerous situation. We won’t run into the bicyclists but the oncoming car might try to veer around them into our lane. Frustration levels rise when there’s a big group of cyclists strung out over a long stretch.

Most baby birdies are on their own now (last batch of House finches just fledged a few days ago).

Juv Spotted towhee

A lucky few baby birdies get help from their parents well into fall. I didn’t see any turkey hens with poults until very late in the summer, but now there are several, if with very small families. I saw one hen and poult yesterday on the road, and they both flew up into a tree.

And the Black oystercatcher youngsters will even get fed by their parents for another few months. The resident pair at a nearby bay hatched one youngster successfully this year. The juvenile oystercatcher is looking healthy and alert.

Juvenile Black oystercatchers don’t have the deep orange bill and eye ring of the adults. Its bill tip is also dark.

This youngster is still being fed by its parents, although it is watching and learning. Finding and prying limpets off rocks is hard enough but digging for clams and opening them is a sophisticated skill that will take into next summer to learn. Years to master. This young bird will flock with other oystercatchers over the winter as it continues to learn skills.



We’re heading up to Vancouver Island tomorrow at the crack of dawn (two ferries and a border crossing), away until the end of next week and the forecast is for rain (a good thing for wildfires and drought-stressed vegetation). I picked the last blackberries of the season yesterday, now jam in jars. BLTs, apple crisps and blueberry scones are done for the year. Summer is closing down in my neighborhood.

Our ‘62 MG is back in the garage until next summer.

🐾

Overcast and cool in the PNW islands. Temps in 60s. Calm.

What’s up in nature in your neighborhood?

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