Birds on a Windy Tuesday

Even with my rain gear, I was soaked, after a wet, windy ride to school.  After my first class, I had a break long enough to go for a short walk with Hudson and Kevin.  Hudson was so entertaining, I devoted the previous post to him.  When he was sitting in the water, this pair of Mergansers came almost close enough to him for a group photo, but then thought better of it.  With the sun on the water, and the wind shifting the reflections around, I thought they looked especially beautiful.  Bill likes the female best, although right after he said that, he added that he didn't want to make the other one feel bad.  He calls her Woody Woodpecker.  He didn't know she was a girl; understandable, since brighter colored birds are usually males.  I guess Common Mergansers are the exception.

After the walk, I went to my desk that looks out over the river, planning to get an early start on my reports.  I saw Nicky, the blue heron, fishing, and I also saw a bald eagle being chased by crows and seagulls.  I photographed both through the window, but the photographs were poor.  Still, I couldn't stop marveling at the drama taking place right in front of me.  (Don't ask how many reports I completed.)  

Later in the afternoon, after my last class for the day, I went back outside, and for the first time that I can remember, the tide was out.  I was able to walk out much further than usual, and Nicky was fishing again.  

There was wind all around, but Nicky's fishing spot had moments of calm.  
The sparkles came and went...
... with the wind ripples. 
I was disappointed when this dog scared Nicky away, but then enjoyed watching him play.
The crows were gathered on a small sandbar.  Some of them would fly up to avoid waves.  I love the one with legs braced against the wind.  Every once in a while, a seagull would join them.  I missed part of this fellow on the top, but like the picture anyway.  
I watched the crows for quite a while.  
There was considerable competition to find a spot on the sandbar.
Three geese honked well in advance of their landing.  One of them, for some reason, chased the other two up the bank.  They weren't impressed.
The wind was against me for most of the ride home, and was so strong that I walked the bike over both the Lions Gate Bridge and the Burrard Bridge.  These branches were on the Lions Gate.  I thought quite a bit about how they must have arrived there.  I don't know how many feet they would have had to travel, if they were blown from Stanley Park.  It seems impossible that they could have flown that far, but I can't imagine someone carrying them onto the bridge.  
Wind can be exhausting,  but it brings its own kind of energy to the day, especially when accompanied by sun.  I've kept track of my biking kilometers (only the commute ones) at this site, ever since Bike to Work Week in May 2008.  Today, I reached 4,357.9 kl, and what amazes me about that is not only how easily the kilometers add up, but how every ride is different.  The last picture of the day was just sun on rock, but it seemed brand new.