As I approached the head of the short path down to the river, I glimpsed a large mottled brown animal disappearing beyond some willow. Thinking it was likely a feral cat, I was surprised & delighted to round the bend and see two large brown turkeys standing in the shade. They moved off a few paces slowly and then began to trot away down the sandy road southeastward. I stepped onto the path and a few paces through the tangle of amaranths, willow, ragweed, pokeweed and broken dead juniper branches, I stepped out onto the sloping sand levee of the river. By the brown churning turbid water, I saw the back of a tall great blue heron. It stayed just a moment and then flew off as a cattle egret was flying by downstream.
The water had receded enough to reveal a narrow sandbar where the heron had stood.. but the river was still high and deep and fast enough to be risky walking. The moving sand made shallow 'quicksand' where the sand bars were shifting. The previous broad sand bars, barriers and winding channels have all been reconfigured by the continuing flood and high water. I headed upstream and enjoyed a few of the mudflats on the east shore but there was not much there. Corixids present in the tens and hundreds of thousands last year and the year before in the shallows were hard to find. Only one small pocket of minnows. A few bronze Bembidion beetles on one portion of sand. All the life was likely still there..just dispersed.. or maybe waiting to burst into rapid growth and reproduction when water levels fall a bit more and the warm side pools become freshwater estuaries for life.
On the jeep trail heading back: Oenothera evening primrose, Heterotheca, Chamaecrista partridge pea, Solanum/ Nicotiana (white) all in abundant bloom along the northeast bank and sandy road. The number of pollinators is picking up.. skipper, blue, syrphid, a bumblebee, lots of halictids. Tamarisk is still in bloom. One kite overhead and a few flycatchers across the river.. nice morning but exploration still limited by high water.
