I went to the Ocean City Inlet today, a week day.

This is newsworthy in that for years I've sneaked a peek at OSPREY postings
of rare birds from my desk at work and mumbled & grumbled, muttered &
sputtered in frustration, hoping this or that bird would stay until the
weekend when I could get away (there goes that Lydia Schindler again, her &
her &@*!X?X Townsend's warbler.   Hmph.)

Well, today was my first day of retirement and, of course, I hied myself
over to the OC Inlet    Gray seas, gradually disappearing sun, east wind

. . .No murre.   Over to the Inlet near the Rte 50  Bridge (RN Grebe at the
end of Worcester St.), pause at Skimmer Flats and West OC Pond (a few new
year birds, but . . .) then to the canal in old Shanty Town, found the
pontoon boat and the black outboard (6 horned grebes)

. . . and back to the Inlet to rejoin the intrepid band of hopers -- Sam
Dyke, Joanne Wilbur, Harvey &Marion Mudd, and Emily Hildebrand (that's not
quite right, very sorry, Emily).   We'd covered the Inlet for over six hours
amongst us.   Skies were getting very gray when there he was (about 3:15PM)
an orca colored, black & white jelly bean (until he stopped preening and
showed his head) out past the Green Buoy.   He stayed and posed for nearly a
half an hour, till I had to leave, shivering.


Very satisfying.
I could get used to this.

Leo Weigant