Yesterday was my normal day to change out sample collection glassware on our rain collector on the 120' meteorological tower here at SERC in Edgewater. The battery on my PDA, that I use to download data from our digital rain gauge, had apparently died so I had to go back up in the afternoon after doing stream monitoring. As I got to the top of the 10th flight of steps (100'), a pair of House Finches flew out into the tree tops. Trying to get stuff done before our carpool leaves, I didn't have time to investigate but this morning I stopped and found the nest with 2 eggs in it. The safe date for HOFI is 5/1. Tell that to the finches!

Also had to put on a hard hat as there were 2 Turkey Vultures perched on the rail at the top of the 11th and didn't want to get a disgusting shampoo ;) 

Tyler Bell

California, Maryland

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