Another day of heavy overcast and rain.
Now nearly halfway through May, our April rush of spring with 10 days of warm, sunny weather is becoming an increasingly distant memory. With persistent cloudy weather, it looks like only one day since then has had above average total solar radiation for the day.
I went for a bit of a drive this evening just to get out a little bit and keep my streak of photos for iNaturalist observations (though I guess technically I had already done that by photographing a moth on the porch this morning, and a weevil Connor brought me).
Greater White-fronted Geese, Cackling Geese, and a Cliff Swallow were continuing at the lake. There are only a couple of records of Cliff Swallow in Marge and Tedin’s data, but they seem to have been pretty close to annual the past few years. I’m not sure if they’ve become more regular, or were simply overlooked bofore. Without making an effort to look for them, they are easy to miss.
I did see one Pacific Loon in Silver Bay, but not the numbers that were there earlier in the week.
On a quick stop by the park to check more moths, I did find one noctuid that seemed a bit different. It’s possibly a variation on a species I’ve seen before.
I didn’t look too hard, but didn’t see many birds in front of the visitor center. A handful of ducks, a Greater Yellowlegs in the large shallow tidepool, and some peeps that were further out near the water.
When I came around the upper part of the visitor center, two Hermit Thrushes flew up from the ground under the eaves and perched nearby. I didn’t have binoculars, but it almost looked like one of them had a grub or something in its beak.
This morning I took some pictures of a clay-colored weevil Connor had found within the last day or so. I previously photographed one ten years ago (almost to the day), but apparently haven’t seen one since. This is an introduced European species, though I’m not sure how common they are (I haven’t really looked for weevils specifically).
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
