Greetings to all,

Two days ago I was sitting at the outflow of Garrison Spring into the tidal area of Chamber's Creek in Steilacoom. Thirty Common Mergansers were feeding on salmon fingerlings in the brackish water at the end of the pipe. Fifteen to twenty Crows were positioned in the shallows to catch the young salmon as they tried to outrun the mergansers. I made a hasty blind and took a number of close up pictures. I have collected some of the photos and they can be seen here;


http://www.flickr.com/photos/25348030 at N07/sets/72157623959558332/

The fourteen month old salmon that were released at the beginning of April have moved out to deeper water and the visiting Bald Eagles have all moved on. At one time there I could count sixteen, one observer told me that he had seen twenty at one time the day before. Only the resident pair remain. Last week I watched as a dead opossum and three salmon were delivered to the nest. I would assume the young have hatched now. Yesterday two sets of Canada Goose goslings were seen. One group of three and the other five.
Osprey have returned to the top of the train bridge and the male was seen carrying sticks around the area.

Take care
Dea Just