…doing death-defying headlong crashes into inch-deep water.
Just another day at the office.
Just another day at the office. Birding
…is not without its share of adventure. The day before the Big Day, Judy and I got called over to Charlie’s Pasture to see a rare Hermit Warbler,
…a bird we’d only seen once before ever. It was a race against time to get to the bird before the incoming wall of weather hit. With great luck, and the help of others, we got him just before the first lightning strike. We high-tailed it for the car and took a blast of lightning right over our heads before we could get there. Unhurt, we drove in a deluge we could barely see through, mostly rain some hail, never breaking 15mph, to get back to the bus. When we got there we couldn’t get the five feet from the car to the coach for the rain coming down and the lake rising up. (We’re okay, we’re parked on asphalt.) We waited in the car for the thunderstorm to pass. Later we find out that the slower to leave weren’t so lucky. The lone person left got struck by lightning. She survived, but spent the night in the hospital. That was almost a “life” bird for her. Wandering through the night, about 2am on the Big Day, Jon and I spooked a pack of javelina that bolted across the trail right in front of us. Crashing through the underbrush, snorting and snarling; that got the juices flowing. A short time later, on our bicycles, working our way back to the car in the dark, Jon, in the lead, almost got run over by a couple white-tailed deer blasting past. Never know what a person will stir up out there in the night. There always has to be a disclaimer attached to my Big Day report. Jon spent weeks putting this together. He did the best job ever scouting and staking out birds so we would know just where to go, and which way to look, to get as many birds as quickly as possible. He spots and identifies birds so fast, I’m rarely the first to find one. Me, I’m just the fortunate collateral damage. My count by myself might have been half this number. I get the benefit of his hard work for the small price of accompanying him. Here is the list of our success with birds this Big Day:
…a bird we’d only seen once before ever. It was a race against time to get to the bird before the incoming wall of weather hit. With great luck, and the help of others, we got him just before the first lightning strike. We high-tailed it for the car and took a blast of lightning right over our heads before we could get there. Unhurt, we drove in a deluge we could barely see through, mostly rain some hail, never breaking 15mph, to get back to the bus. When we got there we couldn’t get the five feet from the car to the coach for the rain coming down and the lake rising up. (We’re okay, we’re parked on asphalt.) We waited in the car for the thunderstorm to pass. Later we find out that the slower to leave weren’t so lucky. The lone person left got struck by lightning. She survived, but spent the night in the hospital. That was almost a “life” bird for her. Wandering through the night, about 2am on the Big Day, Jon and I spooked a pack of javelina that bolted across the trail right in front of us. Crashing through the underbrush, snorting and snarling; that got the juices flowing. A short time later, on our bicycles, working our way back to the car in the dark, Jon, in the lead, almost got run over by a couple white-tailed deer blasting past. Never know what a person will stir up out there in the night. There always has to be a disclaimer attached to my Big Day report. Jon spent weeks putting this together. He did the best job ever scouting and staking out birds so we would know just where to go, and which way to look, to get as many birds as quickly as possible. He spots and identifies birds so fast, I’m rarely the first to find one. Me, I’m just the fortunate collateral damage. My count by myself might have been half this number. I get the benefit of his hard work for the small price of accompanying him. Here is the list of our success with birds this Big Day: Well
We don’t *totally* suck. We had 35 birds by dawn. We had 100 way before noon. We had 125 by the time we got to the coast. Things were going well. Then things slowed down. We got all the saltwater birds we were after, but it wasn’t a giant migrant day. We needed to go north and get more birds, but the Sunday afternoon ferry line off the island was too long. We couldn’t get to where we needed to be before it got too dark. We made it to 196 birds and didn’t get any higher. A lot of things went right. In-between all those storms we’ve had and are going to have, the weather was great. But to break our own record of 207, *everything* has to go right. We didn’t make our goal of 200-plus species, but we did well. 17 hours of birding. 250 miles of driving. 196 species. 28 new year-birds for me. A good day.
The Big Day
It’s that time again. The weather has been very stormy. We had a monster thunderstorm last night and another again this afternoon. It’s supposed to be blowing on Monday. The best weather window appears to be Sunday so that’s it. That’s the day. We have 24 hours to identify as many species of birds as we can. I’ll get some rest this evening, get back up at 11pm, and head out with Jon to start at midnight. We’ll be listening for rails in the dark. I probably won’t have much to say Sunday evening; we have until midnight to finish. We’re hoping for more than 200 species. I’ll report back.
A follow-up with the spinal surgeon today
We got a new x-ray of my neck. We can see the hardware. It’s a long-term recovery so we’re not all the way there yet. We’re talking maybe a year-and-a-half. We’re doing well so far. It feels pretty good if I don’t do anything. If I work my arms and shoulders too much, that makes my neck and shoulders hurt so I back-off. Each time I see the doctor though, I can report that I feel better than last time.