To All

Well so was yesterday, for that matter, so I'll combine the two into
one report.

I took the usual route, a 6 mi loop bike ride on top of a dike which has
water on both sides of it most of the way. It has two different rivers
on the outside and wide drainage ditches on the inside.

In my last report I mentioned that I passed by an active Bald Eagles
nest but I didn't say anything about the beaver dam that blocked one of
the ditches.

I say blocked because, yesterday, somebody walked a back-hoe right under
the nest site and ripped the dam out. It was a nice solid dam and it
only backed up about 2 feet of water into several miles of field
drainage ditches. I could sympathize with the farmer if he were going to
use these fields but they are lying fallow at the moment because all the
dairy cattle have been moved out so the land can be subdivided into
smaller parcels for hobby farms etc.

Well needless to say, construction of a new dam has begun, a couple of
hundred feet further along the ditch. Maybe this one will stay in long
enough to see some changes to the breeding duck population.

Other than the excitement with the beaver dam things were pretty quiet.
There were a couple of flotillas of Common Mergansers (20+ in one river
and 40+ in the other) doing their best to reduce the salmon population.

Brown-headed Cowbirds have just started to rear their ugly heads and
there are only a few Barn Swallows flitting around.

The American Bittern wasn't there both days but I did discover a second
Sandhill Crane. Things are looking up slightly.

There was an increase in the number of Yellow Legs in the area and a
couple of American Pipits as well.

We still have a few Buffle Heads, Common Golden Eye and Ringed Necked
ducks hanging around. Their numbers get fewer every day.

It sure is a treat to have nice weather when one is on vacation. It
beats Arizona any day of the week. (I would normally be just getting
back from there but I bought this computer instead)

Well that's all for now.

Good Birding All

Roger Craik
Maple Ridge BC
(east of Vancouver)