With the forecast calling for rain, I was a little surprised to see some sunshine with partly to mostly cloudy skies this morning. As the day went on, the clouds thickened up, and we did eventually experience a pretty good drizzle later in the afternoon.
With more than a week since the last time Rowan and I had gone up to the first viewpoint on Verstovia, I was not sure how I would feel. I set the pace and let Rowan tell me about one of the books she had read during our brief trip south last weekend. I was glad to find that I didn’t feel any worse than the last time we went up. It took right about 20 minutes. I wonder if I could make it in 15 minutes at this point, but I suspect it would be unpleasant to do so.
We checked out tapping/scratching near the viewpoint. It was a woodpecker, either Hairy or Downy, but too high up and backlit to be sure. I took the customary photo of the view (no Edgecumbe in sight today), and we made our way down. Fortunately the rain held off, with the big drips starting just after we got back to the car.
Not long after getting back home, I saw a message from LP about a [Pied-billed] Grebe on Swan Lake. I braved the construction work (I’ve not been visiting the lake much due to Lake Street being all dug up between DeGroff and the roundabout – and today even part of DeGroff was closed) and visited the peninsula. There were the usual assortment of Mallards there, but a scan of the lake did not reveal any grebes. As I was getting ready to go, I did notice an immature Hooded Merganser swimming nearby (the first I’ve seen this year). I was able to get a couple of photos before it took off in the direction of the upper end of the lake.
The rain was falling hard enough that it didn’t seem worth it to keep looking for the grebe, so I left to take care of some other errands.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
