Well, in the absence of any real birding I shall post the results of my lunchtime 'dry runs' to the waterfront.
Yesterday, I was binocular-less and merely did a time trial from the office. I got to Georgia Park area in well under 10 minutes so, in theory, if I was to take my lunch with me I could get a good 1/2 hour's actual birding in without knocking myself out. Great.
Today I tried it with binocs, and even with the added weight :-) I still managed it in under 10 mins. Cool.
I walked up to the catchily titled Maffeo Sutton Park and had a scan out over the water, turned round and went back to the office all in under half and hour. Which confirms that I could potentially get a good 30 minutes spotting in every lunch hour... come on spring!
Even though there wasn't a great deal for your average Canadian birder to get excited about, I can confirm that on my daily strolls down Morecambe's Stone Jetty I failed to see Barrow's goldeneye, bufflehead, double-crested & pelagic cormorants, glaucous-winged gull and harlequin, as I did today.
Admittedly, the two red-breasted merganser wouldn't have been much of surprise off Morecambe... and while my old chums back in Blighty may be envious of this list of mouth-watering birds, they must bear in mind that I'll never see purple sandpipers, Leach's petrels, gannets or knots on my new lunchtime wanderings. Those days are well behind me. For now.
Hi Jon.. I could hardly resist noticing that sutton park was just "Krap, Nott Us" in reverse. A good omen then for your new revised Stone Jetty.
ReplyDeleteKnowing your interest in all things Elvis you might like to look at his unwitting but breathtaking involvement in a birding breakthrough on my breathtakingly erudite blog at mostlybirdingwithray.
You know you'll like it. Or not.
Best wishes from unashamedly year-ticking Ray.
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