cold gray drizzle

May 23, 2003

Somehow I expected bushes full of warblers again in the cold gray drizzle. However, there were far fewer birds around today. Today's odd bird behavior was a pair of mallards, male and female, walking down the middle of the dirt road at the suicidal mourning dove spot. They didn't even move when my car got close to them. I had to stop and wait for them to get ahead of me, then stop and wait some more when I caught up to them again. What is this walking in the road thing? Birds can fly. That's one of the reasons humans like them. They don't need roads. I don't get it.

Don't be fooled by the sky color in the above photo. The sky was heavy and gray. I upped the contrast so the redwing's red wing patch would show up. I didn't adjust the color at all, just the contrast. Apparently dark gray with the contrast turned up is pale blue. It's possible that my knowledge of digital photography was stored in my left shoulder and is now frozen. Anyway, it's kind of a nice picture.

Today's Bird Sightings:
Plum Island
snowy egret
great black back gull
common grackle
redwinged blackbird
least tern
killdeer
mallard
lesser yellowlegs
Canada goose
doublecrested cormorant
mute swan
northern mockingbird
American crow
herring gull
American robin
gray catbird
tree swallow
barn swallow
brown thrasher

Today's Reading
The Natural History of Moray by Charles St. John

This Year's Reading
2003 Book List

Today's Starting Pitcher
Derek Lowe