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Saturday, December 19, 2009
Sea Watch, Saturday December 19, 2009
posted by Nick Metheny | 8:38 AM
Can the Sea Watch be said to be snowed out, if the counter makes it through only to find that there is no snow on the ground in Avalon (I saw green lawns!), and more of a mix of rain and salt spray coming at you at 30mph, than of snow?
I will say no (we'll just call it an early day), since technically there was 30 minutes of survey conducted in which...
30 Scoter sp
15 Ring-billed gulls
5 Red-breasted Mergansers
...went south. I say "went south" because I would say with the exception of the gulls, that the other birds were unwillingly blown south after fighting to make ground heading into the inlet, but giving up the struggle. Their were some birds that were able to fight their way back to the inlet, like a few Long-tails, a loon, or some tenacious Red-breasted Mergansers, but most (again except gulls) gave up.
It was blowing hard enough for the Long-tails to hover temporarily as they decided between which raging wave they wanted land on the water after and be next to the jetty. Today would have been a fun day to be an albatross with the wind, percipitation, and torrent of waves, and to ride it all with out much effort.
From what I hear on the radio, it is supposed to only get worse as the day goes. I am not sure how much snow we will get here, but I may not be able to safely make it to the Sea Watch tomorrow for my last official day, before the swing counter takes his last days up there. Tomorrow will probably be the first day in Sea Watch history that we get snowed out. What a year it has been to be the Sea Watch counter.
I will say no (we'll just call it an early day), since technically there was 30 minutes of survey conducted in which...
30 Scoter sp
15 Ring-billed gulls
5 Red-breasted Mergansers
...went south. I say "went south" because I would say with the exception of the gulls, that the other birds were unwillingly blown south after fighting to make ground heading into the inlet, but giving up the struggle. Their were some birds that were able to fight their way back to the inlet, like a few Long-tails, a loon, or some tenacious Red-breasted Mergansers, but most (again except gulls) gave up.
It was blowing hard enough for the Long-tails to hover temporarily as they decided between which raging wave they wanted land on the water after and be next to the jetty. Today would have been a fun day to be an albatross with the wind, percipitation, and torrent of waves, and to ride it all with out much effort.
From what I hear on the radio, it is supposed to only get worse as the day goes. I am not sure how much snow we will get here, but I may not be able to safely make it to the Sea Watch tomorrow for my last official day, before the swing counter takes his last days up there. Tomorrow will probably be the first day in Sea Watch history that we get snowed out. What a year it has been to be the Sea Watch counter.
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