With all the boats anchored around us, I wasn’t expecting to find much in the way of wildlife on my paddle this morning.  However, right off I spotted this great blue heron fishing along the shoreline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This guy took his fishing seriously, so focused on his prey that he didn’t see me at all.  And then he caught one!  Not a very big one, but every little bit helps, and there seemed to be quite a school of them, because he caught one after another of the little guys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then, he decided to move on, looking for bigger game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And he found it!  Yay!!

 

 

 

 

It was so much fun watching Mr. Heron catch fish after fish, but I decided I’d better see if I could find any other birds in Rescue.  So, I paddled out toward Mathieson Channel.  I didn’t find much until I got all the way out into Mathieson, where I spotted some color in the trees.  There were several Steller’s jays flitting from treetop to treetop, too far away to photograph.  Finally, one of them landed on some rocks.

 

 

 

He spotted a spider that looked like it might be tasty.

 

 

And, salal berries are always nice for dessert.

 

On my way back to the boat I spotted a couple of mergansers.  I haven’t seen many mergansers this year.  They usually don’t let me get very close, so I had to settle for this one long shot.

 

 

This evening, a Red-necked Grebe flew into the anchorage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He spent a lot of time preening.

 

I haven’t had any problem finding marbled murrelets this year.  They’ve been in every anchorage.  Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to photograph because they are so shy and small, and they are in constant motion.  They are an endangered species, so it’s nice to see them doing so well this year.  I just finished reading a fascinating book called, “The Wild Trees”, by Richard Preston, in which he notes that in the moss-covered canopy of 370-foot tall old growth trees, they have found nests of the marbled murrelet.