Cloudy with light
rain, SW winds, 68 degrees
Once again the winds are not
quite right for the mountain and the hawks. Yesterday, we had 98 hawks….Broadwings, ospreys, Sharpies, Red-tails,
and a few Bald eagles. Today,
zip. It’s amazing to see the
difference a small change in wind direction can bring. We did have a few Turkey vultures
soaring around to keep us busy.
When all you have is the buzzards, you take a little more time to study
and appreciate them. They are
masters of the wind. You can
watch them travel from one end of the valley to the north all the way to our
south, disappear over Black mountain and never once beat their wings.
Their chocolate colored wings
are accentuated with enough tan to make for an almost elegant quilted
pattern. If you can get past that
pretty horrible looking but functional head, you’ve got a pretty fascinating
looking bird, especially in flight.
We left the mountain top
devoid of hawks and made an effort to see if any shore birds or waders might be
taking advantage of the low tide at Iona Island below us.
Here as up on top, things were
pretty quiet. Another bird we take
for advantage, the Mallard, was on site, however, so I grabbed a couple of
images. As with the vultures,
these mallards are beautifully plumaged.
We had one pair where the female was beating her wings as if to show
that the male is not the only one with bright hues in those feathers.
We did encounter another bird
which is becoming more and more common-place and as such is also becoming more
often ignored than appreciated. “Just
another Great blue”.
Tomorrow is another day. It’s
supposed to be sunnier, but the winds are out of the north, so it will be quiet
on the top of Bear Mountain once again.
Ah, but Friday! Predictions
are for sunny skies and winds out of the southeast…..ideal for us. Let’s see what happens later this week!
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