Netitishi tape delay - day 4

AWWW YEAAA

I was ready for north winds when I woke up... Instead I had calm and foggy... What the heck...

Ever get the feeling that you've maybe made a mistake? Not that coming to Netitishi was a mistake... I'd love it there without seeing a single bird... Just that perhaps my forecast skills were really quite bad and the storm was a dud....

These aren't my exact notes, but give you an idea of what I experienced -


7am - fog and heavy rain

8am - fog and heavy rain ... 5 Purple Sandpipers (juveniles, 3 and 2) land very close to me on the flats for prolonged looks ...

9am - fog clears and north wind starts to blow at 20-30kph. THANK GOD - also heavy rain

10am - Heavy rain. wind north 40kph

11am - Heavy rain - wind north 50kph

12pm - Rain turns to ice shrapnel - winds north 60kph - hard to watch the water

1pm - ice shrapnel turns to freezing rain - winds north 70kph

2pm - freezing rain turns to snow - winds north 80kph

3pm - heavy snow - winds north 90kph.. Waves blocking the horizon

4pm - heavy snow - winds north 100kph

darkness of 5pm to 9pm - heavy snow. Winds likely max out at sustained north 110-120kph - dang near the strongest I've experienced in my life (if not thee strongest).


Know how many birds I saw in those conditions? Not very many!!! But who cares! IT WAS FREAKIN AMAZING!

My bird-nerd side took a backseat to my weather-geek side and I ran around like a kid in a candy store watching the storm unfold. Considerably stronger than what was forecast when I left... All sorts of exciting stories surround the situation...


God only knows where the birds go under conditions like this... Here's what I did make note of (later that evening) -

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15733591


Crazy crazy day!