The snowbird returns

I saw this Taiga-race merlin (Falco columbarius columbarius Linn.) during the morning dog walk, shortly before a close fly-over by a western red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis calurus Gmelin). The big hawk flew on, perched a few hundred meters away, then dove to the ground, presumably in pursuit of prey. The merlin remained calmly in place.

During the time it took me to walk home, drop off the dogs, grab my camera and drive back, the Merlin had caught its breakfast. The small falcon is plucking the feathers from what appears to be a male house sparrow (Passer domesticus Linn.).

I see this merlin somewhat regularly near my house during the winter, and I suspect it's the same individual that wintered in my neighborhood last year. Raptors seem to have a reasonably high degree of site fidelity to their wintering grounds.

Starting out my day with back-to-back bird of prey sightings was pretty enjoyable, but I'm even more pleased to have finally taken a perched raptor photo free of utility poles, overhead wires, and other distractions.

Bird work

This handsome little devil is a male black-throated blue warbler (Dendroica caerulescens Gmelin). The species' breeding range in the U.S. and Canada is decidedly eastern and its winters are spent in the Caribbean. I've twitched several life birds during informal lunchtime bird walks along the Santa Cruz River near my office, but they were all species one would reasonably expect to see in the west. Having this particular bird turn up in urban Tucson was quite a surprise.

New ride

I finally committed a day to the assembly of my new bike. Of course, it's not all that new - the frame is late '80s/early '90s bonded aluminum Trek that Veelz flowed me gratis last November (thanks again, bro). The components range from a vintage similar to the frame right up to reasonably new stuff and are a mix of parts from Craigslist, bike swaps, retired rides (both road and mountain), etc. It's primarily going to be a commuter, though I may take it out on days when I just don't feel like fixing the umpteenth flat tire on my current road bike.



Unfortunately, I was only able to take it for the shortest of test rides because I'm still feeling the effects of a nasty chest cold. Cycling requires more lung function than I have right now. Maybe tomorrow...

Dammit

I was anticipating losing my last few days of vacation - and my final opportunities to go riding - to the rain and cold that had been forecast for this weekend. The weather turned out to be better than expected, and imminently bikeable, but I was instead completely floored by a nasty head cold.

Since Thursday night, I've spent most of my time bedridden, alternating between drenching sweats and uncontrollable shivers, tormented at times by fever-driven nightmares. It got BeanSS too, as her time line of symptoms is about a day behind mine. We've both been shoveling myriad over-the-counter drugs down our (sore) throats but like they say, a cold will go away in seven days with treatment, and a week without it.

I feel pretty good at the moment, and I need to feel even better tomorrow, as it'll be my first day back at work in a month. I wasn't really looking forward to going back in the first place, but it would be even worse if I had to show up feeling like I have for the last few days. I do happen to have something like nine months of sick leave built up, but you know how it would look to tack a coupla' sick days on to an already-long vacation. My main concern is that I'm beyond the point where I could spread whatever it is that I have to my coworkers - small offices like the one in which I work can turn into typhoid wards in no time.

At any rate, I'm holding out some small hope that I can get out and maybe walk the dogs today. While BeanSS and I have been laid up, Clayton and Dora have been cooped up. Their several days' worth of nervous energy resulted in the total dismemberment of a plush toy in less than the time it took me to write this post. It makes me wonder what might happen if I were to fall into a Nyquil-induced torpor on the couch. I'll be risking dual shoulder dislocations and a possible death by dragging if I take them out before I feel 100%, but I think it's got to be done.