i used to hate birds.

I wish I saw enough whales that I required a whale blog.

Somehow, while back east visiting my family, I convinced everyone we should go whale-watching.  At lunch beforehand we tried to figure out when the last time the four of us had been on a boat together, and I think it was like 25 years ago in our Boston Whaler on Long Island Sound.  It was time to hit the water again.

Sandy Neck Lighthouse

My parents had been on a whale watch boat before with Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises out of Barnstable Harbor, so that's the one we picked.  I was hoping for whales, but of course I was really hoping for birds.  Pelagic birds.  I had zero expectations until the morning of the whale watch when I looked at the website and realized the boat was heading to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a spot I recognized from eBird as being great for pelagic birds. 

We set sail with a hundred other people (or so it seemed) at 1:30 in the afternoon, cruising out of the harbor into Cape Cod Bay.  We…

Surprise, things look different here! 

Perhaps you have noticed my camera has been straying from birds quite often lately, choosing to focus on flowers or bugs or skies instead.  Sometimes I want to make a post but have no bird photos to share so instead I don't post at all.  To fix this I decided to change things up here and give the blog a makeover.  Welcome to my new multi-purpose blog!

Side note:  When I told my coworker I was tired of having a bird blog he said "yeah, bird blogs are over.  Like that bourbon and bastards one..."  (Sorry, Steve, he had no idea I knew you).

Alright, on to the post.  On my weekend (not yours) I returned to Mount Rainier with Audrey to try once again to prove that White-tailed Ptarmigan exist.  We had a new location to try, the Spray Park Trail, on the northwest side of the mountain, and so we drove up there Tuesday afternoon.  The only campground nearby is on Mowich Lake, right at the trail head, and knowing there were only so many spo…