Well, almost a month ago, I sprained my ankle. Bad. I wish I had taken a picture of the aftermath. My friends told me that my ankle "looked dead" at one point. I've been living slow and pounding Ibuprofen. I was saying, "Boo, Urns!"
So that has slowed down the biking, which has done a number on my inspiration and dedication to a Big Year. As my friend Bob Cliche told me, "No one said this was going to be easy." Well, Bob was right. Big Years are hard. I'm just now getting back at it in a semi-serious way. No big trips planned really. I wanted to go back "over the hill" (as we coastsiders say about going over the mountain to the San Francisco Bay) in order to see that Baltimore Oriole that I mistakenly called a Bullock's Oriole. Alas, the first big miss of the year. I'm not getting another shot at that bird this year. Well...unless one decided to show up in Sierra County while I'm there like last year.
Birds are just trickling in now. In over a month since my last post, I have only seen 9 new species. That's just they way it's going to go from here on out though. Most of the easy birds have been found. Fortunately, migration is heating up!!! Wilson's Warblers just arrived in the past couple of days and Pacific-Slope Flycatchers got in yesterday.
In other birding news, I'm excited to be co-leading a birding walk for kids with Francis Toldi. We're taking a group of young birders out from the Peninsula School in Menlo Park. Coyote Point should hold some great easily viewable birds for the young'uns.
Hopefully, I'll update more tomorrow, as there have been some ridiculous whale sightings lately. I've got a pretty good story!
