Birding!

[Sassafras]

I don't know, a needle and thread and a little reinforcement and it might have some life left in it yet.

 

[jjohnwm]

I don't know, a needle and thread and a little reinforcement and it might have some life left in it yet.

Can't be seen in a pic, but the fabric now has the tensile strength of damp toilet tissue.

I have too much respect and love for this hat to treat it like one of those old axes...the ones so admired by their owners that they are now on their third heads and fourth handles...

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Birding is pretty insane here recently, a bird that hasn’t been seen in california since 1996 (and previously only one other time before that in 1990) arrived in my county, San Diego County. A White-winged tern was spotted. The counties very first record?! They are residents of africa, eurasia, and western oceania, and they sometimes, but very rarely wander to the east coast via europe. Terns are highly migratory, and these ones nest in colonies in eastern eurasia before wintering in subsaharan africa, australia, and south asia. It is a mystery as to why it is here, as it is currently supposed to be on the other side of the world. Of note, it is an immature bird, and juveniles/younger birds are typically the vagrants. I saw it from afar through a spotting scope along with 100s of other birders days after it was first spotted. very unique and cool encounter!