SIT SPOT REPORT AND A SAD FISH STORY

We had some morning errands and made it out to the river at the quiet time of noon. It was quiet both in terms of people and bird activity.

Kiddo wanted to bring buckets AND toy trash bins so I set him up with his own backpack which didn't work out totally well but was worth the try.

We saw a big crew of quails that and created a bit of a bird plow as kiddo ran full speed down the trail on the way in.

We also saw a kinglet, lots of acorn woodpeckers, lots of vultures in the sky. I think we heard but didn't see a flicker. We saw a flock of bushtits in an oak tree on our way out. A highlight was watching some diving ducks and trying to identify them. There were a couple different kinds I think. Their dive motion was so compelling! They sort of fanned out their tails as they went under. We think at least some of them were Goldeneyes. We also saw a group of very long-legged water birds with super long beaks and the cutest calls.

We walked over to the rockier beach and saw a huge fish laying on its side in very shallow water, immobile. I thought it was dead. Kiddo was throwing rocks in the water (a favorite activity) and he threw a tiny rock at the fish (which we thought was dead). And it flopped away! I think it might have been dying and feel terrible (and kiddo felt terrible) that we disturbed a dying fish, but we learned our lesson!

I'll end this sit spot report with this photo below of the snag and looking east across the river. I'm going to try to take a version of this photo regularly and see how it changes throughout the year.