What a crazy month, so far. Personal issues have prevented me from birding two weekends in a row now, and weekends are pretty much my only birding times right now, without taking vacation days.
[As an aside, does anyone know why I get these intermittent periods of phantom notifications on my tumblr dashboard? It’s very peculiar.]
At one point, at my parents house, I noticed a fair amount of Northern Cardinals, Northern Mockingbirds, Grey Catbirds, Palm Warblers, Common Grackles, and White Pelicans. Yes. Apparently, a decent contingent of 50 or more have been hanging around in one of the larger retention ponds in the large community my parents live in. I first noticed a flock of them the night before, flying over the house while my brother and I searched (unsuccessfully) for Comet PANSTARRS in the smoke-smeared twilight horizon. I’ve seen a LOT of White Pelicans this year.
Here’s my favorite White Pelican image, courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger (some years ago):
Introductory pelican is introducing.
Lonely Birder 