Today was one of those where cars had their headlights on at midday. With rain and wind, it was an inspiring day to stay inside, but I wanted to get at least three observations in, plus I had a couple of errands to run, so I headed out with Connor and Rowan after lunch.
At first thinking I might look around at Pioneer Park, the falling rain was sufficient to deter me, so we sat in the car for a few minutes to see if any birds popped up. Not seeing any, we headed out to Starrigavan to check there.
The tide was coming down from a 12 foot high (had there been more of a low pressure influencing things, I would have planned to go out there to catch the high tide). I was a little surprised at how quiet it seemed – there were plenty of swans, but few ducks. Perhaps they were tucked away in the flooded estuary grass and sedge meadow.
I did get pictures of a Bufflehead, and thought about taking pictures of swans, though they wouldn’t have been new for the year.
The photo accompanying this post gives a sense of what it was like out there. I couldn’t take the picture fast enough to avoid getting rain drops on the lens, even though I was sitting in the car.
Back at Sea Mart, a Horned Grebe and Long-tailed Duck had shown up while we were gone, so they made up the final two of my observations for the day.
This evening things seemed mostly calm at the house, though the official readings (at the airport) were showing winds in the 20s with gusts in the 30s. Periodically a squall moved through, and I heard the wind whistling and rain pounding against the windows. Tomorrow calls for more of the same.