Mostly sunny early, becoming overcast in the afternoon. Light winds. Frosty overnight, with temperatures into the low 40s this afternoon.
I woke up early and saw pink clouds through the window. They were compelling enough to get me to step out on the deck for a couple of documentary photos. I imagine there were some much nicer pictures available elsewhere, but the clouds almost certainly would have faded before I made it anywhere promising.
A bit later I went up Verstovia trail while on a call. I had lots of talking to do on this call, so took a deliberately slower pace. My time was nearly 33 minutes, well behind the pace of prior trips. On the other hand, I never felt like I needed to stop to catch my breath.
I was carrying my backpack and didn’t wear cleats. For the most part lack of cleats wasn’t an issue, as there was much less snow and ice on the trail than last week. However, I did slip and fall on my backside when I stepped on an icy stair. Fortunately, nothing seemed to get painfully torqued or overly impacted.
With the sun shining, I felt compelled to take a walk around my neighborhood. I continue to hope for a shrike sighting, but it didn’t happen today.
Pigeons seemed scarce in the neighborhood, however. I heard from someone who lives on Etolin Street that a Sharp-shinned Hawk had taken down a pigeon in their yard within the past couple of days, so perhaps there is one (or more) targeting the pigeons of late.
I ended up in a conversation with someone and didn’t take any photos while on the walk.
I expected to go out this afternoon, thinking it would still be sunny.
Instead, the clouds built up more quickly than I expected. Not long after lunch, a stratus layer covered the sky.
Since I needed to get photos for observations, I headed out anyway.
After meeting with someone to get them a calendar (they had purchased from me in previous years, but were busy and just got in touch with me today), I drove out the road.
Tide was up when I went by Starrigavan. I did see the pair of Hooded Mergansers resting in the emergent vegetation.
I watched from Kerr’s Island pull out and from Sea Mart. I saw some birds and photographed them for my observations. Nothing unusual, though I continue to be impressed at a cormorant’s ability to down a flat fish.
I stayed out longer than I might have otherwise when a break in the clouds allowed some sunlight through. Though a strip of warm light bathed parts of the mountains, it never opened up into a full sky of color.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
