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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 00:05:21 06/29/08
Mariel, her sister, our nephew and I went to look at the Purple Martin roost in Davie this evening. We arrived at about 7:30pm and parked on the north end of the gas station because the other side was crowded with people awaiting the arrival of the Martins. The sky was very dim as the sun was covered by the haze that supposedly started up as a dust storm in the Sahara a few days ago. The news reported that the dust was carried over by a storm and it is now being seen by us...
"The haze is actually due to African dust. Its very common this time of year to see huge sand storms in the Saharan desert.
Upper level winds pick it up and travel from one end of the Atlantic to the other. The bad news , it makes for hazy skies..."
-Phil Ferro, WSVN Chief Meteorologist
Well we stayed at the Race track gas station waiting and waiting for the Martins to come to roost. It got later and later the sun never appeared to set as we didn't have any light from the sun. We saw about 15-20 Purple Martins coming in to scout the roost but they never came back with the rest of the groups. The Martins never came and everybody started to leave. As the group of people thinned out, I decided to walk over to see if we could see any on the other side and that is when I noticed a familiar face. Tricia was there waiting for them too, it was awesome to see her since it has been a while that we last bumped into each other. We missed the Martins but did see a variety of other birds while we waited. We left home around 9:15pm empty handed and with thoughts about why they did not come to roost tonight? Could the hazy sky have had something to do with it?
Here are the birds we saw today while waiting for the Martins to roost:
12 Least Tern
2 Tri-color Heron
1 Great Egret
2 White Ibis
2 Solitary Sandpiper
Rock Dove
2-3 Common Nighthawk
12-15 Purple Martin
European Starling
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
as well as some others.
Nature is Awesome...even though the Martins stood us up.
Angel & Mariel
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