Island Landing

Day 218: Yesterday's kayaking adventure took me to yet another "new" lake where, in addition to catching five trout in the 11-12" range, I also discovered an island approximately twenty feet across the longest dimension. It held three or four large trees (living and dead), a number of small shrubs (mostly willow), and showed repeated use by Canada Geese as a nesting site. I found two eggs, one of which had been rolled out of a nest by some varmint, the other still nearly entirely concealed by mounded dry grass and down. In the process of exploring this small but fascinating microcontinent, I also learned that Canada Geese are useful in controlling the invasive snails which populate most of western Washington's lakes.

The only birdlife I observed on the island (other than evidence of geese) were Red-Winged Blackbirds, common also along the reedy shore. However, as shown in yesterday's post, Spotted Sandpipers were present at the north end of the lake. A pair of Bald Eagles were seen in and around a tall snag on the west side of the lake. That said, the island was a naturalist's delight, for all of its diminuitive size.