Clouds

I decided to bundle up and stand out in the field behind the house and work on the yard list for raptors as we had some good northern winds today.  I stood outside from 10:00am to about 2:00pm and saw 87 Turkey Vultures, 17 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Red-shouldered, 1 Harrier, 1 American Kestrel and 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks.  A lot of ducks were flying south to north today as well, but for the most part they were too far away, even for the scope.  I could only positively identify Mallard and American Wigeon in the mix.  I also had 4 Common Loons flying west to east today as well.

One thing I noticed above all else today were the clouds. For the whole four hours I was shivering and couldn't wait for the clear blue sky that I saw in the west make its way over me so the sun could come out and warm me up.  It never came! In fact, that patch of blue sky just stayed almost stationary to the west, and around 2pm it was actually starting to move further away from me, back towards the west again! And now as I type this, the same cold front that brought us rain on Friday and Saturday is pushed right back on top of us again thanks to Hurricane Sandy.

Here are the suggested paths that this hurricane may take in the next few days.  Looks like along the Lake Ontario shoreline is going to be the place to set up your scopes.  Of course, anything can still turn up after the hurricane goes through (dead or alive), and it will be interesting to see what birders report in the next week or so.