Journal of a Sabbatical

May 10, 2000

must be the weather

Today's Bird Sightings:
Plum Island
86 double crested cormorants
1 northern mockingbird
3 common grackles
16 redwinged blackbirds
19 herring gulls
10 Canada geese
1 common tern
3 gadwalls
3 blue-winged teal
1 green heron
1 American robin
2 eastern kingbirds
1 palm warbler
1 mallard
4 American black ducks
6 great egrets
1 snowy egret
1 common yellow throat
1 gray catbird
2 greater yellowlegs
1 blue jay
starlings & house sparrows
Joppa Flats
50 brant
3 lesser yellowlegs
Rowley
1 solitary sandpiper
1 snowy egret
10 mallards
1 mystery shorebird

Today's Reading: Uttermost Part of the Earth by E. Lucas Bridges, Pawing Through the Past by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown

Today's Starting Pitcher:
Ramón Martinez

I'm standing at the bathroom sink brushing my teeth watching Wilbur out of the corner of my eye. He runs around in circles violently attacking something invisible in the hallway. He turns and bolts down the stairs at top speed howling all the way. I knew today was going to be weird when Wilbur came charging into the bedroom at 6:30 chasing imaginary prey and making guttural noises that sounded like demonic possession. He's still at it as I'm getting breakfast. He regards his food with suspicion and growls at it. He pounces on a speck of dust, snarls at it, then runs back upstairs. The thought crosses my mind that maybe this demonic possession thing isn't unique to Wilbur. Who knows what to expect at the shelter?

Well, Team Mullins blew through before I arrived and washed all the dishes and litter boxes except for a couple that Chris just put in the sink. Apparently Kendra is out with a tooth problem and Team Mullins came to substitute for her. While I'm assessing what remains to be done, Bob tells me that Sandy raked Bruce F. across the face totally without warning let alone provocation. This is especially surprising because Bruce is an animal communicator.

Chloe is holed up on a chair under the conference table wanting no part of people or cats. I can see why. The cats are all hissy and the humans are disorganized today.

Surprisingly, I find plenty to do besides the two litter boxes Chris had just put into the sink.

There's laundry to shake, wash, dry, fold, and put away. Having to shake out every item I pull out of the laundry basket is a little time consuming. It would be so much easier and more efficient if people would shake the litter off before they put the towel in the basket. Dream on.

There's community litter boxes full of gallons of pee to be scraped and washed and refilled with nice clean litter. The community boxes are quite filthy today and it takes awhile to get them clean. When I'm at the sink washing them, Chloe decides she's interested in people but only to watch. She jumps up on the counter and watches me intently as I scrub. This is about the highest level of intimacy she'll tolerate today.

There are new faces to photograph, cats to attempt to play with, laundry to put away (oh I already said that - but there's a lot), toys to pick up, community water bowls to rinse and refill, wet towels to be replaced with dry ones, and stuff.

After lunch at Angie's diner, the rain lets up so I go in search of birds. A flock of 80+ cormorants flies overhead just before the refuge entrance. A mockingbird greets me at the gatehouse. And so on.

I am now pretty sure that my blue thing the other day was a green heron and not a little blue after all. There's a green heron at the salt pannes when I arrive. As it's standing close to the road I get a good look at it when it takes off. Sure enough, when it's in flight with it's neck pulled in, it looks all blue as the other colors are hidden. I don't think I've ever watched one fly before. I always see them standing in the water and fishing. Glad I cleared up that mystery.

Great egrets seem more abundant today, and the common terns are back. With not much effort, I compile a pretty good list for the day, although I'm sure I missed tons and tons of warblers and flycatchers and who knows what else. And on the way back home I spot a sizable flock of brant in the Merrimack near Joppa Flats, and my first solitary sandpiper at the place where the reeve was reported in Rowley. Miss the reeve though. As I'm sitting in my car looking at the solitary sandpiper, a Rowley cop pulls up next to me to see if I need assistance. I laugh with embarrassment and tell him "No, I'm just looking at an interesting bird." There's another shorebird just out of binocular range that keeps ducking behind some tall grass. Could be a reeve. Could be anything. I mark it as "mystery shorebird" in my notebook.

The rain starts up again before I get home.

In other news, Salisbury voted No on the casino.