Return of the Rain

Overcast, with rain starting late this morning and continuing throughout the day. Breezy.

When I saw the rain hadn’t started by the time I got up, I was motivated to get out as soon as I could and try to beat the rain (forecast to be heavy).

Initially I intended to head to Verstovia and do my (near) weekly walk up the trail while chatting with my parents (who were on their way to the farm).

A text from Connor that the Eurasian Wigeon was at Totem Park.

I made a side trip down there and spotted the male. It did look a little different than most I’ve seen, and perhaps is a hybrid with American Wigeon. There was also a female Eurasian Wigeon there.

I made it up to the first view point in 28 minutes. It’s slow for me by historical standards, but represents a nearly 10 minute improvement over my first effort of the year.

I felt pretty reasonable while going on. I suspect I could have pushed harder and made it in under 25 minutes were I not trying to carrying on a conversation. Perhaps I could have even pushed for 20, but I suspect that would have been very uncomfortable.

The rain had started falling harder by the time I was driving back. Even so, I made another stop at the park to see if I could get a better look at the wigeons. The tide was up higher, and the birds were falling the water. I got a bit closer to the birds without getting out of the trees, but the light was worse. Had it not been raining, I probably would have tried to work for better photos. Instead, I went home.

I went ahead and ordered new microscopes today. I suspect I’ll need to do some rearranging to accommodate them (especially if I use an old laptop to run the camera I’ll have set up for photos).