More mild weather

I just keep riding and riding! Winter refuses to come. Today was 8C and sunny, a beautiful day to ride. I'm trying out my new helmet that just arrived from Japan: a Shoei Hornet, a gleaming white full-face, dual sport type with sunvisor.

I'm leaving Canada in a few days to search for the near-extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker on the Choctawhatchee River in NW Florida.

New bird today: Long-tailed Duck
Total so far: 33 species

New Year's Day Ride

The weather continues to be unbelievably mild (7C today). Not a flake of snow has dropped in the whole month of December. I took a ride along Sarnia's waterfront today (the St. Clair River and Lake Huron) and added 5 birds to the list:

American Coot
House Sparrow
Lesser Scaup
Common Merganser
Common Goldeneye

32 species so far.

An old man stopped to talk to me when I was scanning the water for ducks but I had my helmet and earplugs on so I couldn't hear a word he was saying. I just nodded my head at judicious times and that seemed to work.

On the way home, I pulled up at a stoplight next to another motorcyclist who was 'braving' the winter weather. When the light changed to green, I coolly throttled up... and went nowhere! I was in neutral! Not so cool!