Sunday, October 30, 2011

When the Bluejay Shows Up

            Three Monday's ago was Columbus Day and during that weekend there was a last hurrah for the summer weather with temperatures reaching the 70's and 80's. I spent the afternoon of Columbus Day at the beach getting some sun, although with no lifeguards on duty anymore for the year, swimming was prohibited. The water wasn't as kind as the weather was that day either, so it was a little too cold to swim in anyways. Not that I didn't take a few quick dips while I was there.

            Fast forward to this past Saturday morning, it started out weird and only got weirder. I tend to wake up in segments and then fall back asleep, such as 6:30am, 7:00am, 8:30am, etc. On Saturday morning I was up around 8:00am and while laying in bed I heard what sounded like a crow on my windowsill. It's common for smaller birds to perch on the windowsill and make their usual chirping noises, but this bird made a noise similar to a crow, and then starting hitting against the window. It seemed very unusual, so I got out of bed to check it out and it turns out it wasn't a crow, but a different type of bird in a bluejay. I hadn't seen a bluejay in nearly a year.

            I was able to watch it for a few seconds, and the tapping noise against the glass was actually it pecking at the window, like a woodpecker would. Unfortunately, when I motioned to get the camera to take a picture, I must have scared it off and it flew away. Still sleepy, I decided to go back to bed for a while. The next time I woke up it was around 10:00am, and what stood out in my mind at the time was the sound of wet car tires coming from the nearby street, indicating that it must be raining out. Not ready yet to start the day, I went to bed for about another two hours and finally woke up for good around 12:30pm. Looking out the window again I got the surprise of the month seeing snow all over the ground and still falling from the sky. It was more of a wet snow causing slush to accumulate, but luckily alot of it was melting as soon as it hit the ground. Overall it was enough to be a nuisance covering cars and making driving more of an obstacle.

           According to the news it had been nearly ten years since it had snowed in October in New York, but I don't remember that ever happening. This year alone we broke a record in the amount of rainfall, and I hope this early snowstorm isn't an indication of all long nasty winter to come. Looking back at the bluejay on the windowsill a few hours earlier it all made sense, they tend to show up when its time for winter...


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