A Good Day

Two weeks after my crash off the barn loading dock, I am back to doing most of what I could do before. Well, a lot of it anyway. Yesterday Johnny drove me to the coast and we hiked up The Thumb to check on the Black Oystercatcher nests I've been monitoring all spring and summer. Happily, we found parents on duty at both nest rocks and even saw one chick. How many more were in hiding is anyone's guess. It was wonderful to be back.

Our view of the nesting areas from The Thumb

Middle Rock in foreground with Back (or Black) Rock beyond.

An adult BLOY on Middle Rock standing guard near nest chick hiding places

Second adult on Middle Rock, also theoretically on guard

South Rock, the other nesting rock this year

Adult BLOY apparently on guard on South Rock

BLOY chick on Middle Rock, enlarged many times and still hard to see

Hiking up and down to The Thumb was easier than I anticipated. I had learned from our 88 year old neighbor after he broke his hip that the rehabbers told him to step up first with his bad leg and down first with his good leg. So that's what I did all the way up and back down: left up, right down.

We then drove to Pacific City and had lunch at Los Caporales.


Back home that evening, the sky came alive with a beautiful sunset.

A spectacular ending to a wonderful day.