Subject: Mercury and a Ross' Goose
Date: Apr 6 22:43:17 1997
From: Jack Bowling - jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca


Addressed to: tweeters at u.washington.edu
cannings at vip.net

Hi, all. Thought I would let everyone know that now is a great time to
see Mercury in the west after sundown. Go to a place with a clean view
of the western horizon about 9 PM PDT and scan with your binoculars at
about the 250 degree azimuth. If you use Comet Hale-Bopp as an arrow
marker, it would point a bit to the right of Mercury. Due to its tight
orbit around the sun, it is never very far above the horizon, about
one extended fist-width at 9 PM. It still shines fairly brightly
through the twilight in binoculars.

Oh yeah, back to birds... while I was checking out Mercury, I missed a
rare bird alert on the local phone tree. Seems a Ross' Goose was spotted
SE of Prince George this evening. Will have to check it out tomorrow. It
is chumming around with some Canadas. It has been hot in the California
Central Velley the past couple of weeks so it is no wonder that Ross'
Geese are on their way north. First for the local checklist.

- Jack

Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca