After last night's epic monsoon conditions, I finally made a point to get atop my new roof for the first time since moving in in late February. Sillydigs did not let me down. First, an by far most importantly, as I was setting up my ladder, I looked up to see a large shorebird flock about .5 miles high. I quickly realized I was looking at Pluvialis. They had no dark in the axillaries. I ran inside for my DSLR, and they were still overhead when I got out. By the time I got the manual settings ready they were behind the neighbor's sycamore and I never saw them again. DAMN! Having only ever seen AMGP at 2 locations in the county, seeing a flock of 40-45 of them FROM MY YARD was mind blowing, and dare I say it, a bit epic?
I proceeded to the roof which produced additional epicocity in my extremely suburban setting. Next up was a large flock of BOGU. Then life yardbird BARS (including several possible CLSW and PUMA candidates up real high), then NOHA, and right as another heavy cylinder of rain hit, 2 COLO pumping NE to outrun the storm right on the front edge of the rain column. Oh the agony.
Takehome message of the day for yardbirders: right about the time the weather gets so shitty that you no longer want to stay outside, is exactly the time you need to watch the sky more carefully and STAY OUTSIDE! Downpours and low-flying waterbirds and shorebirds go together like Silly and Putty.
I wondered how long it would take you to climb up there. As I recall, you don't have much obstruction to your line of sight, either.
ReplyDeleteEpic post. Glad to see you can still hang with the big dogs.
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