Dream sharing

This is one of the strangest coincidences I have experienced.

Last night I slept beside a friend. I dreamt I stood on a dock and saw a snapping turtle swim through shadowy green water below. It disappeared under the dock. Suddenly a huge snake with a large head appeared underwater and darted after it. I couldn't see, but knew it must have caught the turtle. Then three of these huge snakes appeared, winding around one another.

On waking, I couldn't remember any dreams, only that I had had some strange ones. We were lying quietly, holding one another. I asked my friend how he had slept.

"Well," he said. "But I had a strange dream."

"What did you dream about?"

He had dreamt about an actress I donn't know, who used to date k.d. lang and played a character on The L Word. In his dream an anaconda had wrapped itself around her and was forcing its head into her mouth.

I immediately remembered my own dream, and realized the huge underwater snakes were anacondas, too. A little strange, don't you think?

Bird day

Getting ready for work, I was eating breakfast and checking email when a migraine suddenly hit. This happens about once a year, doesn't involve much of a headache, just partial blindness, so there's no question of driving or working with tools for the rest of today. I called in sick for the first time. Now the visual shimmering effects have partially abated, so I'll recount some of Saturday's activities.

It was International Migratory Bird Day, and I celebrated by getting up very early and heading on an excursion. I had originally planned on Leslie Street Spit, however on the spur of the morning steered my car toward Long Point instead.

This turned out to be a bit of a mistake. A cowl of chilly, breezy weather scuffed across Ontario that morning, but at Long Point it actually rained, unlike anywhere else. Long Point juts into Lake Erie and is normally one of the better places for observing bird migration. Its diversity of woods and wetland habitats has earned a designation in the 1980s as a World Biosphere Reserve. Saturday there were a few birds about, but the wind kept them hanging low in vegetation, and the cold and wet made it unpleasant to step out of the car for more than a few minutes.

( American Coots, Marsh Wren )

( Northern Parula )

( Back road misadventure )

( Red-bellied Woodpecker )

So considering the good birds I saw against the crumby weather and road mishap, it was a worthwhile adventure. Here is a complete list of the species (33) I observed on Saturday, counting first observation only:

( List )

( Birding software )

It will take a lot of work to transfer all the records I've kept since childhood, but it will be worthwhile as my hiatus of several years from energy and interest for birding seems to have ended. This is an inexpensive hobby, but much more interesting with a car and a little gas money.

Now the migraine has abated, but perhaps I should obey the warning sign and go back to bed for a while.

Here are a couple Tree Swallows hunkering down above the windy beach at Long Point, and the flock of American Coots at Big Creek.