I’ve been a little quiet here recently. It’s been due to a mixture of things, including some busy times with work, a head cold that laid me out, and finally my main computer (and the one I process pictures on) dying late last week. I think work will (hopefully) stabilize, the cold has mostly run its course, and the computer was under warranty (though it will take a week or two before I get it back), so I’ll try to get back to posting more regularly soon.
I was inspired this evening by the sound of rain hitting the windows and doors on the south side of my house. Looking at the current weather conditions, I see it it’s blowing out of the south at 20-25 with gusts near 40mph. We’re currently in a flood warning through tomorrow, but so far rain hasn’t really been steady enough to really get the river rising. Stepping outside, it feels surprisingly warm. The temperature is currently (at 9:30pm) 55F, so warm for this time of year, especially at night. Looking at the satellite imagery, it’s not hard to see where this warmth is coming from, as a band of clouds extends starting well to the southwest of here is pushing up through our region. It’s interesting to also see the mostly clear skies behind this weather front (seemingly wrapping around the same low pressure center, if I’m understanding correctly), which maybe will be the source of the sunny weather forecast for later in the week extending into next week. It’s been a wet month (over 16 inches so far, and given the current conditions, we’ll likely get over 17 before all is said and done – this compared to the average of 11.38 inches for the month), and the last day that rated as partly cloudy was back on the 8th (I’m sure I’ve seen some sun since then, however).
With heavy clouds like we’ve seen lately, the reduction in daylight hours has been almost startling. Of course we’ve passed the equinox, so we’re getting fewer than 12 hours of daylight anyway, but when it seems like dusk is starting nearly an hour before the schedule sunset time, it sure enhances the sense of shortening days.
Bird-wise, the waterfowl have started to move through in greater numbers. A flock of Snow Geese was reported by at least a couple of people flying low along the shoreline of the road system. Connor chased them down as far as he could follow, but lost site of them when he had to walk the trails at Totem Park.
Other interesting birds include a Black-headed Grosbeak that was first reported over the weekend, and a Western Tanager out near SeaMart that was present for at least two days. I was able to see the grosbeak (my third), but not the tanager (still haven’t seen that one, though this was at least my third attempt to follow up on a report).