MARCH 2016 • VOL 14, ISSUE 3 THANKS TO OUR ADVERTISERS, IT’S STILL…
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The Fishing Crew
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es, the eagles have landed at the mouth of the Lewis River. My friend Debby and I counted seventeen in the area between the Railroad Bridge (which crosses the North Fork of the Lewis River) and the mouth of the Lewis. They were enjoying a smelt feast which was coming up the river. We saw many flotillas of scaup, one of common mergansers and many hungry cormorants. Scaups and mergansers dive for the fish as do the cormorants. We didn’t see any kingfishers but were sure there were some around as they, too, dive for fish. With the smelt coming into the Lewis it is a smörgåsbord for fish-eating creatures. When going into Longview a few days later we saw flocks of gulls floating on the Columbia River backwaters plus lots of bald eagles in the trees looking for a fish dinner to steal. The eagles are so majestic as they perch atop the trees with the sun shining (yes, it was sunny that day) on their white heads.
We have several types of mergansers in the area with the common merganser the easiest to identify. They are quite large with stark white sides, a coalblack head, back and tail. The book says the white is tinged with a delicate peach but we couldn’t see that from a distance. The feet and saw-edged, spike-like bill are red. The tip of the bill has a tiny hook on it, the better to grab the fish with. The main diet is fish. The red-breasted merganser is quite striking as are all the males. They, too, have a spike-like red bill and red feet. The head is a dark glossy green with a definite crest. There is a white band around the neck, the back is black, the breast is a rusty color, and there is a white stripe on the side that separates the black of back with the gray at the water line. The female is a ‘plain jane’, so to speak The crested red of the head stands out, identifying it, with the body a light gray, We also have the hooded merganser but I will tell about it in a later story. The males seem to be quite beautiful and distinctive but the females not so. They have the job of keeping the eggs protected and babies taken care of so they don’t want to be spotted by predators too easily. Time to go and see what you can see in The Bottoms. BIRDS—cont’d on page 2