7:13 AM Sternwheeler - Queen of the West again? I think so. / downstream. Difficult to capture with clarity because so little light.
7:18 AM Harbor seal
7:36 AM Lots of crows coughing out their comments. Seems to be a cross-river conversation with individualls calling harshly back and forth, punctuated by the occasional gull's scream.
8:01 AM Three hooded mergansers swimming across the water, beaks submerged and all three crests standing straight up, ungainly little sails cutting through the water.
8:24 AM Tug: Triton (Seattle, WA) / upriver. Going very slowly.
8:36 AM A few quiet honks tell me there are canada geese resting on the water just out of sight around the bed. Suddenly, a burst of activity and a huge flock bust forth from the water to join the myriad of other flocks that have been heading upriver all morning. They are beautiful as they wing out across the river. Necks outstretched, dark wings reflected in the dark water.
9:26 AM A small brown hawk swoops into a group of small birds flying across the river. With a sound of feathery impact, the hawk catches a bird in it's talons. The rest of the little birds swarm around the hawk, looking for anything like a swarm of angry bees buzzing around the predator. The hawk wheels off unsteadily with it's struggling burden. I can see the little bird in it's talons, feathers trailing behind in the breeze.
9:28 AM Still holding the hawk in the gaze of my binoculars, a much larger bird crosses the field of view. I follow it now, and realize it's a bald eagle. It cries out, and dives toward something glinting on the water. Talons outstretched, it grabs and wings back upward, a fish writhing in it's grasp.
9:30 AM Westwood Columbia (Nassau) / upstream
9:41 AM Triton, back with a Brusco barge.
10:13 AM Harbor Seal.
10:42 AM Hanjin Oslo (Panama) / upriver
12:11 PM Emerald Leader (Nassau) / upriver
Clearly a car carrier. Left behind the most gigantic wake I've seen yet - waves crashing on the shore like the river had been momentarily transformed into the Pacific.
12:41 PM Tug Deschutes (?) / upriver. Looks like a miniature moving lighthouse on the water.
1:05 PM Pacific Explorer (San Francisco CA) / upriver
1:55 PM Florida Voyager (San Francisco, CA) / downriver. Riding high on the water. It has the chevron logo, so I suspect it is a fuel-carrier.
2:32 PM Progress Ace (Panama) / upriver
3:41 PM Red tailed hawk flew inland.
4:42 PM Snazzy insect landed on a rusting post.
4:43 PM Then snazzy bug fell on a leaf
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