You ever seen a pair of Swainson's hawks doing it?

Nah, me neither.

Until this morning.

Must be spring.

In other news, the avocets and phalaropes are here.

Must be spring.

In other news, this was the last running of the strutting ground route in the dunes. Point of these standardized routes is to space the runs about 7-10 days apart so that at least one of your counts should be close to when the number of males hit their peak.

Last week's was 306 cocks on these six leks. Highest count so far this spring. Almost certainly the peak of male attendance, but the only way to be sure is to run it one more time to see if the number of males drops.

It did.

Still fifty-one on the first lek, but they had a tardy hen to keep them excited (and strutting).

Second lek had three.

And no hens.

Just three lonely males standing out there, asking "Is breeding season over already?"

None at all on the third, fourth and fifth leks. Yeah, maybe they were flushed. The eagles are hunting in earnest now. But the sixth lek had only 65 cocks (courting at least two hens).

It had 129 last week.

The strut is definitely fading away. Too few mornings left, and too many leks yet to check.

The brand spankin' new truck shorted out over a dozen times again this morning. Most just driving on dry sand, which gets everything shaking, but it's not hard bumps. Still the truck loses power, the warning lights come on, the clock zeros out to 12:00 again, and the radio comes on.

Like yesterday, I checked the battery connections. Just as solid as they were yesterday. But this new outfit has all the wires coming in to the positive cable attached by a bolt, rather than welds.

And it's loose.

We'll see tomorrow if my tightening holds.

If not, it will be fun to take this to the dealership for warrantee work. Seeing as how it's an "undercover" vehicle with no identifying plates or logos.

Well, Mr. Dealership, sir, I know we didn't buy it here. And I know I haven't got a bill of sale. And I know the plates are fake and not on file. And yeah, I know the registration says "Green", and this here truck's "Gray".

I didn't steal it.

Honest.

Can't you just trust me, fix it, and let me get back to work?

'Course, the funny thing is, they probably would.