Feathered Visitor from Siberia

Boo-hoo, not my photo of Siberian Accentor (that's a bird species, not a condition)

Last week I got word through the birdie grapevine that on Thursday, February 6th, a Class 4 rarity showed up in Woodland, Washington. The rarity is a Siberian Accentor. The way I see it, if the bird was kind enough to fly in all the way from Siberia, the least I could do was go and pay my respects, right?

Stenerson Road, Woodland, WA; where the Siberian Birdie hangs out

I stayed put over the weekend as I knew there would be a circus of birders coming in from all over Washington and the surrounding states (yep, there were 40 - 60 birders present at all times last weekend). The Siberian Accentor has been seen in Washington only twice before, the last time was 1991.

This morning I took the 3.5 hour drive down to Woodland. On my arrival at 1:40 PM only 3 birders were present. They said the bird hadn't been seen since noon. Just then, as the bird apparently knew I had arrived, it promptly flew in, perching in a convenient apple tree. SCORE!

Lucky guy who got the photo
up top  on his high end camera

Must say the lighting was atrocious. I realized no way I would get a photo of the bird. After a sparse 3 or 5 minutes, the bird took of into the pines. The guy I was standing next to got photos - I asked if I could take a photo of his photo and he kindly agreed. His photo is the one at the top of this post.

Next I asked if I could take his photo for my 'Birder buddies' photo in my cell phone. I take photos of people I bird with. On running into them, sometimes years later, they remember me, as I tend to stick out like a sore but never remember from where they remember me. On such occasions, out come my iphone 'Birding Buddies' and I show them the photo of themselves, and we all get a nice chuckle out of it. Amazing how often I run into the same birders at different rare bird sightings.

Stupid lighting!

Only about a half hour later, the bird reappeared. This time it perched - for quite a while actually - in the tall pines opposite the big empty field. It sat happily while stared at it with my binoculars  - to make sure I was on the correct bird - then with my camera, I took like a zillion photos - all dreadful, as the bird was back-lit.

Can almost sort of see some details... almost

Couldn't make out a single detail of  the bird's plumage. It had a skinny bill though so we all knew it wasn't one of the sparrows that I was looking at. AHA! I then set my camera's ISO super high, with hopes of lightening up the bird enough to see some detail. My idea worked... just not very satisfying results. Rats!

digiscoping: spotting scope and cell phone camera

After about a zillion more horrid photos, the bird flew... right back into it's favorite tree - the apple. There it sat.

A drastic ploy was needed. I walked back up the road to my car, ditching camera and binoculars. I got out my itsy bitsy spotting scope. Then trotting back up the road I set up the scope, using my iPhone for some digiscoping! Here's one of the many 'raw', that is un-toyed with shots I digiscoped to the left.






And miraculously, here is what a digiscoped shot looks like when you 'cut out' or rather, blow up the subject.

 Not too sharp, my shots aren't perfect, but damn it, they're a sight better than a poke in the eye, right? Am so happy I managed to get shots of this incredible bird from the far east. 

Another NYC Farewell

Looking down on... um... Brooklyn with Manhattan on the left of the left hand bridge

Another Great Pop-up in The Big Apples draws to a Close. William offered to drive me to the La Guardia Airport, but I spared him the drive, opting to use Uber. This was a great trip for Uber-ing about the city. Thought would be a nice time to show off some of this past week's photos that weren't shared earlier. 

On the way from Seatac WA to NYC, I flew Frontier Airlines. Will NOT make that error, ever again in this life time, I can assure you. Cheap fare? You betcha. Cheap flight, oh, HELL yeah.

From earlier in the week, departing for NYC out of SeaTac (Seattle, WA)

The only cool thing on that flight was the jet's tail with it's giant Texas Longhorn picture.

And Here are some New York shots that got lost in the telling.

The Theater where the new West Side Story production is on

Ed Sullivan Theater where Late Night with Steven Colbert plays
[Note to self: must see live taping of Colbert show!]

Night time Manhattan shot of the SS Intrepid

Just a little Wood Duck male I spotted in Harlem...

Lastly, a shot taken by a kind passerby at Times Square, the night we saw the Harry Potter plays. 

Posing in front of The Lion King, the play's Rafiki the shaman

William, Claire, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Oh Mother of  Horcruxes, I am DONE!

First thing to note here - I am a long time Potterhead. Also note, I hated the post-Hogwarts book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (HPCC). I dismissed it as no better than the sorryest amature fan fiction. Yet, I've wanted - desperately wanted - to see this play since it opened in London in 2016. Thought I didn't
have a Hippogriff's chance in a wizard's duel to see it. Then it opened in NYC, and now here I am with tickets for the neph, William and meself.

Knew this would be an epic adventure, which started with the box office giving me seats up in the peanut gallery - which I felt was wrong... On climbing up to the rafters, I was told they'd screwed up and that my actual seats were much better.

Then, it was CORRECTO TICKETUS! and my real tickets were in my hands and I was off to peruse the souvenirs. You saw that one coming didn't you? Got myself and William Hogwarts ties, we are both in Ravenclaw. Then I got a frozen drink that came in a keepsake HPCC cup. Didn't realize the slushy drinks were alcoholic, probably spiked with Ogden's brand Giggle Water. Had a couple of those drinks *hic* before the done was day.

The Cursed Child is two plays, and there is the option to see them on two different days, or take the route we did, which was seeing them on the afternoon & evening of the same day. Best choice!

Yay! Our 'proper' seats in the orchestra section

Wills had taken off to get some food outside of the theater and I was worried with him having the wrong ticket, something awful was going to happen, but I described him to a helpful usher and went to my theater seat. Lo and behold, William made it to our correct seating before curtain time and we were ready to be wowed.

What a fun production! It was just as I'd hoped, it makes you feel like you got lost in Diagon Alley, and watched witches & wizards perform magic in front of your eyes. Some bits of the production were so magical that during intermission, William and I would discuss how-the-freakn' hell they pulled off this or that magic, on the stage, right in front of our disbelieving eyes. I think my favorite spectacle was the wand duel between adult Harry Potter and his one time, second level nemesis, Draco Malfoy. During that spectacular wizard's duel, I was shrieked with delight.




After the first play, part I was ended, William and I took off for dinner before the start of part II. We yelped, googled and headed for a Japanese restaurant that was not where the phones said it would be. Rats! So we ended up instead at Bubba Gump's Shrimp. We wolfed down a combo special and fancy drinks. Then we returned to the theater to roam the halls and take advantage of the awesome photo opts.

William's photography magic

William and the Pushy Thunderbird!

Happy to visit Snape's Patronis - ALWAYS!

Ominous signs hoovering over an Owlry... quite Death Eater-ish!

I absolutely must mention this - after dinner, as we waited with other theater goers to enter the Lyric Theater, I was astounded to see a so-help-me-gods, BAT flying around just above us! I freaked out, as it was flippin' freezing, around 28 degrees out and yet there was a bat, flying around! It was my first time seeing a bat in the Big Apple. You know me, I noisily pointed it out, and no one else paid any attention to neither the bat, nor me. I guess considering the other magic we'd seen today, a bat was no big whoop for anyone but moi. I guess  they thought bats are so 'Halloween' and that was a fortnight ago.

For a day with over 4 hours watching a play, the day ended as though cursed by a dark wizard who willed the fun to trickle slowly away. But it was so wonderful while it lasted. I suspect if I ever get to a Harry Potter World I will just *POOF!* dissolve into a sizable puddle of happy 'essence of Claire'. 

Can you spot Dumbledore on the right?

That is George Weasley in the stripy jumper

All too soon, the last bows

Before we reluctantly left the theater, we had our photos taken with the emblem of Ravenclaw (mind... it is the version that has a raven, which as Ravenclaws, we know actually ought to be an eagle with Raven, i.e., black talons, but as a true Ravenclaw I would be remiss to let that fact slide by, sans comment). 

'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure', yeah, that's us to a tee.

That was our fantastic day at the theater. Likely the only double play day I'll ever know, at least until I repeat the HP and the Cursed Child adventure again, hopefully next time in London.

To give an idea of the play's 'flavor' here is a short teaser on the production.