Hi, Tweets,

Today I drove up to see Diann MacRae's Turkey Vulture study site.
Last night we had a heck of a blow, the wind was quite strong here in
Thurston County. I heard on KOMO that 30,000 people were without power
because of it.. I'm assuming it was in Seattle, though they didn't say. It
couldn't have been here in Thurston County. We're all on the same extension
cord down here, and when one house goes out, ALL of Thurston County goes out.
And it STAYS out until the power people have got a couple of days of double
overtime banked for the holidays.

Anyway, the wind served to keep the TUVU's bottled up in Canada. It was
blowing almost due east.
Diann's got a very strategic position, she can see the birds coming from
Canada across the Straight of Juan de Fuca. She said she saw several
yesterday, (as well as Bald Eagles, Red Tailed hawks and Ospreys, but today
she didn't see any. I know that we didn't see anything raptorial while I was
there. The wind was blowing, too, and kicking up one heck of a surf. So I
watched the gulls and cormorants....Diann was telling me what they were, but
gulls and seabirds in general are beyond me. We did see Surf Scoters and
Harlequin Ducks. Diann said she saw a couple Rhinocerous Auklets yesterday,
as well as several Brown Pelicans. I saw one bird land in the rocks that had
the butt of a puffin...short tail and squatty body...but that's all I saw,
darn it.
My goodness, but that Salt Creek campground is pretty. The campsites are very
small..but the view is tremendous. It's cold, though....my butt was frozen
after only a few hours out there. Diann must be a lot tougher than I am,
because she didn't seem to notice it, she's been out there since the 20th and
will stay there until early October.
So if you have nothing to do in the next few days, and feel like taking a
drive on the Peninsula, drop in and say hello to Diann. Take your camera,
too..it's lovely up there...
Michelle
Littlerock, WA
MBlanchrd at aol.com