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winterbadgerNice bike ride this morning; foggy and damp, showing off the bottomland colours of autumn in the little valley where I ride. The trees and streams all dark and muddy, the few leaves left are shreds of bright green or yellow, pink or orange against the darkness of trunks and water. I almost didn't see any of my wildlife chums, just joggers and dogs out with their walkers, but in the return leg I did see a young deer. Lovely person!
I also saw a NEW BIRD!!!!!!! New to me, obviously, not an undiscovered species. Along with the usual doves and blue jays and robins and mocking birds that I see near the ballfield, there was a cedar waxwing! Never seen one of those before, but I recognised it right off from the books. There was also someone small and red-headed, who may have been a house finch.
Lots of helicopters overhead--are we ferrying OSCE election monitors around, like it was Haiti? :-)
GO VOTE! (of course, this admonition doesn't apply to thoise of you reading in places where there isn't a vitally important national election today... :-)
I also saw a NEW BIRD!!!!!!! New to me, obviously, not an undiscovered species. Along with the usual doves and blue jays and robins and mocking birds that I see near the ballfield, there was a cedar waxwing! Never seen one of those before, but I recognised it right off from the books. There was also someone small and red-headed, who may have been a house finch.
Lots of helicopters overhead--are we ferrying OSCE election monitors around, like it was Haiti? :-)
GO VOTE! (of course, this admonition doesn't apply to thoise of you reading in places where there isn't a vitally important national election today... :-)
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Date: 2006-11-07 01:49 pm (UTC)Already did. I was there at 7:30 and out by 7:35, colossal donut in hand. Unfortunately, it was to go to a different polling place because the first place didn't have me on their roll. (!) The second place had a much longer line and no donuts. But it got the job done.
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Date: 2006-11-07 02:24 pm (UTC)One of the most common things I remember from working as an election officer was getting people to the right precinct, and their astonishment at the idea that they could only vote in one place. "What, I can't walk into any polling station and vote there?" Uh, no. :-) (I'm sure *you* understand this, but the number of people who didn't was surprising.)
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Date: 2006-11-07 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 06:50 pm (UTC)A far cry from the 18th & 19th century, when candidates would have tables of food and barrels of beer at the polls to reward their supporters. Of course, they knew who to reward because you had to announce your vote...
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Date: 2006-11-07 04:51 pm (UTC)/smirk
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Date: 2006-11-07 05:38 pm (UTC)I've never seen a cedar waxwing, I don't think. How cool! They're such beautiful birds. If he's that nearby (at our local park?), I'll have to start looking out the windows more often.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 06:47 pm (UTC)Cedar waxwing: It was very pretty! It was in the trees around the ballfield over near Rt 236 and the Beltway that's at the end of the trail from Eakin Park. It's a great place for birds in the morning. I've seen mourning doves there, blue jays, robins, mocking birds, various small songbirds, and I've seen red-winged blackbirds in teh fields ont he other side of the stream.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 07:32 pm (UTC)Voted early in Pine Springs. Not crowded, but still had a 20 minute wait. One of four machines down. Finished by 6:40am.
Early morning ride in fog sounds like fun. Will have to try it sometime.
Are mocking birds the gray robin-sized ones with the black and white flash when they open their wings and tail?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 08:22 pm (UTC)Yep, sounds like the same guy.
Good pictures at:
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/mockingbird.htm
http://www.shallowsky.com/Birds/showbird.php?pat=Perching_Birds/mockingbird
Hrm. I need a birding icon...
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 08:36 pm (UTC)Have been noticing them along the W&OD for a couple of years. This year a pair claimed our front yard.