common snipe -- really December 4, 2005
Snow. Gee, we haven't had snow in what like a week? Ok, the last snowstorm was on Thanksgiving so that's slightly more than a week. Anyway, I had plans to meet the Hermit Potter for breakfast and coffee in Lowell because there's yet another new coffee shop we haven't tried. However, we got snowed out. After the last time we tried to do coffee and snow we decided it doesn't count as art if you get snowbound for the sake of coffee. Sigh. We talked on the phone from the comfort of our respective cozy homes for an hour and a half or so anyway. The only thing missing was the coffee. Later in the afternoon I decided that since there was less snow on the coast, it was a good idea to go look for the snowy owl on Plum Island. I looked for same yesterday unsuccessfully but did find this origami crane lodged in a bush. So. today I didn't find the owl either. Nor did I find the pied billed grebe that people were reporting. When I look for a specific bird that everyone else is seeing, I never find it. The only way to find a snowy owl is not to be looking for it. I actually told somebody that at the North Pool Overlook this afternoon. Shortly thereafter, two, count them two, common snipe (aka Wilson's snipe) stirred in the bushes on the edge of the pool. Snipe? I spent a whole summer's worth of plover warden shifts looking for a common snipe all the other birders were seeing. Was I looking for snipe today? No. I was not even thinking about snipe. I was singing to myself a little song about snowy owls and how the owl was certain to show itself to me. Snipe never crossed my mind until they crossed my path. Trip story, pictures, and bird list coming soon.		Today's Bird Sightings Plum Island Common loon Canada goose American black duck Mallard Northern pintail Green-winged teal Common eider White-winged scoter Black scoter Red-breasted merganser Northern harrier Sanderling Wilson's snipe Herring gull Great black back gull American crow American robin American tree sparrow White-throated sparrow Northern cardinal   Today's Reading Down the Bay by Wallace P. Stanley This Year's Reading 2005 Booklist
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