Stéphane’s Posting for Oct. 18, 2011

Storms!

It was a storm to remember! On Saturday, October 16, the weather went wild, with gale-force west wind and heavy rains all day! We managed to open nets for almost 3 hours early in the morning before the weather deteriorated into storminess! It was fun to watch the storm inside a warm and dry house, though.

This wind did some damage, knocking down a few trees, most notably one right on top of the lines that connect us to the outside world: they got cut clean through! The phone line even got cut, which left us really disconnected for a few days. (It was fixed yesterday.) But now that the power lines are down, we are really enjoying our solar panels: the system has been very good in keeping us (and the group from the weekend photography workshop using Grebe Lodge) with electricity.

Sunday and Monday were also stormy days, sunny though, on the day of the sun, and rainy on Monday. Finally, we were able to resume banding today, with fair weather. Interestingly, we captured a batch of new Hermit Thrushes but recaptured none of the almost 80 we banded last week before the storms. There was also an Orange-crowned Warbler in the nets.

Stéphane