Just a little breezy…

Temps in the 50s, overcast in the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon, Winds west 20-50(!) mph

Tough birding.

At one point I stopped at the National Forest to fill the feeder. I made the mistake of parking tail-end to the wind. When I opened my door, it swung open hard, but I was able to control it so it didn’t warp the hinges or frame. However, when I got back in the car, I didn’t have the strength to close the door. So I had to get in, turn the car around, and then I could close it!

The wind was picking up water from every body of water (lagoon, ponds, puddles) and spraying all over the place, making keeping clean car windows difficult.

Here are some photos of the wind spray.

The only bird of note today was Mottled Petrel. Before last September, I never had this species. However, last year, after a storm (and similar winds to today’s) we had thousands of shearwaters, many albatrosses, and a good number of Mottled Petrels in Kuluk Bay.

We only had a smattering of shearwaters today, but a few Mottled Petrels were mixed in.

Andy’s group had a Brambling in town this afternoon.

After this spring’s bountiful Rock Ptarmigan counts (up to 111 in one day), they have been much harder to find on this trip. A high so far of only 10. I assume the hunters have had a part in this…

I went down to Finger Bay this morning, but didn’t add anything new. However, it reminded me to measure the width of the bay when I got back home. When you drive down to the bay, it looks like a short distance across. However, it is one-quarter mile at the point where you first approach it, making birds that are large look tiny in perspective. I was fooled many times (in our early trips) into thinking I was looking at auklets, when they were in fact, murrelets or murres! I know better now.

The wind is supposed to be only in the 20s tomorrow. Much more manageable for bird-finding.

The trip list is 38.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S275163238

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true