Semiahmoo Spit
December 31st, 2024
We decided to explore Semiahmoo Spit this morning. The weather report said no rain today but you never know. As we progressed up I-5, and the sky grew brighter with the rising sun, we saw breaks in the clouds that had been our companions for the past few weeks. This gave us hope that the light might be better today. We did find light coming through the area above the horizon.
I parked in the nearby parking lot and went up the left side of the road of the spit. The water was so high that the right side was right up the road. There was a small strip of land between the water and the road. This forces water birds to crowd closer the the road and therefore more accessible.
The first birds I saw were surf scoters. I kept seeing them dart down under water fishing for food. It was fun to see first the female to dive and then the male to follow. While they were under water I would move to the shore and get down on the ground. The birds noticed me but my camo gear seemed to allow me to get closer.
As I walked down the beach, I started to hear the call sounds of loons. After a brief look, I spotted several loons in different parts of the shoreline. I again followed the technique of running towards where a loon dives to get closer and then would sit down again. The loons allowed me to get pretty close.
On the way back I saw an unusual color. I spotted a common merganser swimming around and searching. She didn’t seem to mind me moving closer so I kept taking pictures and then moving closer over and over. These are the resulting images.
I saw and heard bald eagles most of the morning. They flitted around but never got close enough to photograph. On the way back to my car, a single eagle landed. I lifted my camera up and managed to get the following shots of this one launching out of a tree. The blurred wings are because I had accidentally picked 1/500 but managed to get these images.
