This from Frenchman's Bar. I had gotten out the door from the Black's fairly early in the morning. Starbucks provided my coffee as I poked at a little bit of writing and kept an eye on the Clark County reports. A quick trip over to Vancouver Lake had gotten me a Western Grebe for 151 species for the year in Clark. A Herring Gull at Frenchman's Bar made it 152.
It was nice to see the water lapping up on the shores of the Columbia as I walked back, removing my footprints. It made me think of the beauty of the cycle of a year. New Years and ne starts. water coming in and washing away the marks of the past. In the end, it all gets washed away, for all of the events in life, from our embarrassments to our vanities.
We get to start each year at zero. In some ways we do. And we have to start each year at zero. In some ways we do. There's measures of freedom and responsibility both in there.
I liked this year. No regrets. Just egrets. So many egrets. To be fair, I didn't get to 175 for the life lists in *any* of these counties, but as Russ might point out, "That just means you get to come back!"
Gladly!
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| Sandhill Cranes flying past Mount Saint Helens - from Frenchman's Bar |
2023 actually ended in Yakima for me. Dropping my son off at college and visiting my mom. I even had a chance to drive Riverside Drive out on the east side of Yakima to do a quick bit of birding. I picked up my 200th species in the county here I'd grown up. You'll never guess what it was!
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