Heavy overcast and rain (varying from moderate to heavy) through the morning. Clouds started lifting, and temperatures dropping this afternoon.
When the clouds lifted high enough, I could see the snow level had dropped to 2000 feet or so.
The heavy clouds and rain this morning did not inspire me to get out. I looked at the satellite imagery and could see the edge of heavy cloud shield out in the eastern Gulf. It was slowly moving east. With the hope of at least a bit of a break later in the day, I held off going anywhere until after lunch.
The clouds did start lifting, and the rain stopped at the house. I started out and discovered the rain was not done yet.
I had planned to stop by the golf course to see if pipits were still around. Connor had seen an possible Asian form a while back and there were some pipits reported there yesterday. I didn’t have high hopes for the unusual one, but this time of year sometimes I’ll take what I can for motivation to get out.
With rain still falling, I took a side trip out to Starrigavan, but didn’t spend much time there.
Back at the golf course I could see blue sky showing through a break in the clouds to the north, and the rain eased up and ended.
The ponds at the golf course are both quite full. Today I paid more attention to how the water runs off when the ponds can’t handle the full flow. A portion of the water runs back along the driving range and down some drainage areas from there.
I did find five American Pipits foraging on the grass. They seemed to favor the partially flooded lawn area. Perhaps the high water levels pushed the invertebrates they were looking for up out of their hiding places.
I did see one pipit with a bright green caterpillar.
Seeing all the snow on Harbor Mountain made me think it was the right call to go up there for ibuttons yesterday. There’s a good chance it will melt off before the end of the month, but better safe than sorry in this case.
Before heading home I spent some time watching the maples at Castle Hill. I did hear a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, but didn’t see any birds on the hill.
I also checked the channel.
Just after I arrived, I noticed a Sabine’s Gull flying up. By the time I was able to get out and get pictures, it had started across land towards the west. Reviewing my pictures, I think it’s the same bird I saw on Sunday due to an errant feather on its left wing.
Two juvenile White-winged Scoters were a new species for me in the central part of the Channel.
Gulls were fairly sparse in the channel overall, though I could see many perched on buildings on the other side.
What gulls were out on the channel included a fair number of Black-legged Kittiwakes. I managed to get photos of one diving into the water (which they did several times while I was there).
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
