Today I visited Area Lake for some brainless #birding on a steamy day. A Black-crowned Night Heron came out of nowhere and flew into a tree. I was able to track it down at a spot very close to where I flushed a Black-crowned Night Heron a few months ago.

It took me nearly two hours to get to the music school last night for the chamber music retreat. There were accidents everywhere so Google Maps routed me to the other entrance to the bridge...but it didn't know *that* entrance was closed and kept on having me make the turn at the police tape […]

Drove out to the mountains early in the morning. Turns out many of our warblers didn't have to go very far, but I was there for Red Crossbill (Appalachian or Type 1) #birding

I've begun the Yellow-crowned Night Heron watch at the retention pond by the freeway. I think I've had a pair there every year near the end of June. They were not there today, but there were three Green Herons and at least one male Orchard Oriole. YCNH watch will continue #birding

Not much going on bird-wise, except Kayak Todd had a Least Tern. Turned out he had one around this time in the last few years, but the data didn't show it because Todd had interpreted the eBird question "Are you submitting a complete checklist of the birds you were able to identify" to mean if […]

Prof Phil Roe has passed away #rip https://ifm.mathematik.uni-wuerzburg.de/~klingen/ewExternalFiles/WorkgroupNews_5_26.pdf

永記六四 #junefourth1989

It finally happened: a bird offered me free beer on a hot, dry trail. I would have taken one except I still had to drive home. #birding

"He notes that one of the great recruiting advantages the government has historically had is the ability to tell candidates that their work will make a difference. ""But if your input and work are just being ignored, that's a much harder sales pitch to make to potential employees," he says." […]

Ran into one of the other regular birders at the farm today. It was super slow. Then when I went to the little retention pond at the intersection, guess who was also there -- also super slow, tho he noted that the habitat should be good for a bittern. After I […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Great day to be waiting for the plumber...four black-bellied whistling ducks need to be chased like now #birding

more weather.. unless this pattern keeps going forever? www.capitalweather.com/welcome/

This rules. Absolutely the funniest possible outcome. The president of the United States filling in as the headliner of a concert because Milli Vanilli canceled.

This story about the guy with the gold bars reminded me of that time when one materials scientist at LANL wanted to understand what a certain material would look like in DARHT. They made a surrogate object out of gold (density match, but also that guy was *extra*). The story was that they had a […]

RE: https://universeodon.com/@georgetakei/116659284087186234 One cheeseburger could bring compliance. Do your job, cheeseburger!

The neighborhood pond known for its shorebirds was devoid of shorebirds today, yet another sign that we've reached the end of Spring Migration. Two herons had a meeting of the minds (such as it was) that resulted in the Great Egret flying over to its half of the pond #birding

It's probably safe to say that the Spring Migration is over. There could still be the odd shorebirds, of course, but everything else is DUN! Low-key birding at Area Lake today. No rarities, just the usual stuff. Lots of interns training to become golf course employees. #birding

Today a bunch of us were at the little bridge before low tide, hoping to catch a few shorebirds. 16 semipalmated and 2 least sandpipers were it. Birder Ed, who came up about 1.5 hrs after low tide, explained that there was a south wind last night. Later, he and ZZ Top and the Wunderkind saw a […]

It was very foggy this morning, so I thought I'd explore a new hotspot instead of watching the river. This spot is a very birdy "neighborhood pond" with an island. There's got to be a colony of 20+ Black-crowned Night Herons, as well as a dozen Great Blue […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Ran into my former sports dr at our town's annual Memorial Day street fair. His practice separated from the local medical conglomerate. Meanwhile, I retired and had to get my own insurance. Alas, the new practice doesn't take my new insurance, which is a shame, because I could really use a […]

Waiting for the violin shop to open. My teacher heard a sound that convinced her there's an open seam. I couldn't tell and attributed all weird sounds to my poor techniques. My violin guy is too busy to do unnecessary work, but everything is just plain expensive now...also it's just miserable […]

Crazy morning! I thought the day was rained out, but then a guy on bird Discord found a pair of American Oystercatchers off the little bridge! I got there just in time for low tide. Afterwards, to kill time so I didn't have to sit in Beltway traffic, I went […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Cleve Moler has passed away. RIP. https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html

Today I again left skating 10 minutes early to avoid the heat and get to the bridge before the low tide became high tide. At first there was nothing, but suddenly the little Semipalmated Plovers came in. There were Dunlins too. There was a weird shorebird […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

I’d add it’s not just now that he’s hugely unpopular: A lot of this administration’s priorities since day one imply a concerted effort to ensure that a second coup attempt would succeed. Just telling people to vote and hope the magic of democratic institutions fixes everything is suicidally naive.

I found out that the next county over has Dickcissel. They are where the Bobolinks are (so they have both!). We found a male Dickcissel singing in a tree. I may have seen a female too but it was a fleeting view. #birding

Gravy wants a snack. I don't think he needs one.

I have now reached the total number of birds I saw last year in my county. It's been a crazy migration so far! #birding

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@joat/116590387034370109 This former math program manager says this toot is correct. Politicians (that includes the OMB) don't understand what math is or does, but they know what a big shiny supercomputer looks like. We have struggled to tell the story of mathematics. #hpc

I made a list of warblers I should expect to see or hear during this spring migration (so no weird rarities like Connecticut or Mourning). As of today, I'm only missing three: Prairie (technically not a migrant and I expect to see it this weekend), Bay-breasted (my nemesis warbler!), and, of all […]

Dipped on Common Gallinule today, but got a sweet White-rumped Sandpiper. #birding

RE: https://flipboard.social/@newsguyusa/116556075235791688 LOL no honor amongst thieves

I was going to stay closer to home today, but just as I was wrapping up the first patch, an alert came that American Avocets were seen at the little bridge on GW Parkway. I drove there and found two people on the bridge. I set up my little scope and saw these […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

This week ended well bird-wise. I was trying to figure out what to wear for the orchestra concert when the alert for Anhinga came in. Jeff, the bird Discord mod, dropped a pin at a spot that I failed to interpret literally, but the Plant Guy did and spotted […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Yesterday was both the best and worst day of #birding. I tried to see an Olive-sided Flycatcher (rare) before my bird walk and dipped. The bird walk I led did not yield the Bobolink, but we ended up with 50 species on a cold, gray morning. Then I tried to chase some White Ibis (rare) but dipped […]

Ahh, yes, the unpopular decisions like “black people don’t deserve political representation,” or “rich people should be able to control everything,” or “women shouldn’t be in charge of their bodies.” Truly a man committed to justice.

Achievement unlocked: a silent Ovenbird poses for me and I managed to get a picture. #birding

Crammed in a lot of #birding today because tomorrow is chamber music day. Started by visiting the two adult Little Blue Herons currently at a little pond, then went on a club bird walk where we finally got some warbler actions plus a Veery. In late afternoon […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Frustrated with both my inability to find and the lack of migrating warblers, I went across the river to see Horned Larks (still there) and Bobolinks (passing through). They are planting now, but the Killdeer didn't seem to mind. This little one, which I […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

It doesn't matter what you think of Comey. If he can be charged for posting a photo of sea shells on a beach arranged to spell out "8647", anyone can be charged for any speech that the president dislikes.

21C7 (8647 in base 16, in case you need to get past the censors)

Today's crowning achievement is finding that Orchard Oriole at Area Lake. It had been avoiding me every time I got too close. I started whistling its song. Weirdly, it responded. I eventually found it in the mid-section of a big tall tree, and confirmed that […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Alas I had the most frustrating #birding day yesterday. I was hoping to see the Snowy Egret. I birded with a guy I ran into. He heard the "squeaky wheel" of the Black-and-white Warbler, but I didn't. Later we ran into the Wunderkind and NaP, who had a Golden-winged Warbler. Still further down […]

A couple of weeks ago I got new hearing aids. I've had one for my left ear for about 5 years, and the Costco lady convinced me to get one for the right ear as well. I'm still getting used to them and I think they will need some adjustments, but last week I discovered that Blue-gray Gnatcatchers […]

Every Tuesday is TACO Tuesday!

A lot of #birding is being at the right place at the right time, like today, when I finally saw the American Bittern in my region. Well, part of it is planning: I had missed it yesterday, so I changed my plans to be there today. ZZ Top, who was amongst the […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

I saw three gulls & automatically checked the Ring-billed Gull box. Then an alert showed up. Three Laughing Gulls were down the river at another hot spot. I took a second look at those gulls, and sure enough, they were Laughing Gulls. OK I unchecked the […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Another crisis averted! The HOA was going to paint every door in the subdivision black. They didn't tell anyone until a few weeks ago, and the color was buried in an attached .docx file. One board member resigned. Lots of neighbors preferred the original colors (blue or red). The lawyers started […]

[Nature] OMG I think Athena the Great Horned Owl ate her remaining owlet after the younger one died. Around 10 am this morning local time. Her mate was MIA & not bringing in food. Probably the right decision by her. #birding

At today's club bird walk we had a hawk. The lead took a look at it and started telling us it was a Red-shouldered Hawk with its black windows etc. I was scratching my head because there was no window and the hawk was uniformly light-colored with rounded […] [Original post on mastodon.social]