Rain Bird

We stayed at our friend's cottage overnight.

We got up at 4:30 AM to lightning and torrential rain.

We drove for an hour to meet at the appointed time for our bird count at the Carden Alvar.

It was still pouring. Over 20 people in various styles of rain gear and rubber boots huddled around the coffee. The count was canceled.

We weren't ready to drive back to the city so we checked out the marsh and other favourite spots, ate a fried egg breakfast and managed to find 55 species of gorgeous birds by lunchtime.

Highlights:
- this Wilson's Snipe posing and calling on a fencepost, It's beak (or is that bill) is about as long as its body!
- long looks at a singing Grasshopper sparrow
- fledgling Red-winged Blackbirds with their bald heads
- a Shoveler Duck thousands of miles from where it should be at this time of year.

At one point my husband said that he had been counting his blessings while listening to the songs of the robins this year and hearing the wonderful complexity of such a common bird song. This was a day for counting my blessings.