Last Friday I started the process of looking Wilbur Webster Judd’s account in 1907 of the Birds of Albany County and whether they still hold true today.  Part I, last week dealt with Thrushes.

This weeks chapter is short, dealing with the two Kinglet species in the area, plus one more.

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet:

Judd:  Judd notes that the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet is more common than most observers realize in Albany County, and he notes seeing large numbers in the spring in Washington Park in Albany.  He notes that they breed from the northern border of the state northward.

Raup:  Ruby-Crowned Kinglets are common both in Fall and Spring.  In Spring they are an early arrival, their song, along with their cousin help to liven up the still slumbering woods.  While Ruby-Crowned Kinglets may have expanded their range somewhat in the Adirondacks (or observers are getting to previously unknown areas), they still have not bred in Albany County, although their may be suitable habitat in parts of Partridge Run WMA.

Golden-Crowned Kinglet:

Judd:  Lists this species as a common winter visitant and also states that its breeding habits are exactly the same as Ruby-Crowned Kinglet.

Raup:  Golden-Crowned Kinglets are fairly common in winter in the Albany area in both urban and rural areas.  They are seldom found far from conifers and often in mature woods.  Judd was incorrect in the nesting habits of the Golden-Crowned Kinglet, which is an uncommon, but widespread breeder above 1000′ in the area.

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher:

Judd:  There is no mention of this species in Judd’s book.

Raup:  Blue Gray-Gnatcatcher over the last 20-50 years has steadily moved up the Hudson Valley and is well established, although still rather uncommon in the area.  This species is found reliably at several Albany area locations, but is not widespread, and is often over looked due to the fact it sounds similar to catbird and can often be difficult to spot in deep brush.  This is one of several southern species which have moved into Eastern New York after the days of Judd.

A couple of weeks ago, Turbine Entertainment released its 7th free ‘expansion’ for Dungeons and Dragons OnLine.

The main thrust of this Mod was to release the new playable class, Monk.  Now I have only briefly played around with a Monk and I haven’t made up my mind whether I like them or not.  At least in the early going they have been fun to play, but I’m not sure what their worth is, they can’t tank like a fighter or a barbarian, can’t disarm traps, don’t really heal or buff the party and don’t really cast spells.  I have seen some builds which have been awesome, but most have been so-so.  I won’t deny a Monk from joining my groups, but I don’t specifically look for one either.  They appear they could be a great solo character.

The other major part of the Mod was the re-doing of the Three Barrel Cove area in the game.  This area was rather dull, huge open space with very little to do.  The quests scattered about were quirky, but not really worth running for many players.  They neither had good loot, experience and most of them were truly frustrating.

The developers have completely re-done the area and it is amazing.  Not only is it pretty to look at, but the slayers/rares and Explorers are challenging and fun to run, even on a higher level character.  The three new quests are a puzzler’s dream, with one quest standard (run through kill boss at end), one quest you can do either way (kill the boss or do the puzzle) and one that is one giant puzzle (and is fun as hell).  This so far has been my favorite update with this mod and I have spent many hours with my guild here.

There are of course countless and numerous minor changes to the game, mostly spell or class specific.

Over all I think this is one of the best Mod’s yet.  I joined the game shortly after Mod 5 was released, so my experience was limited.  Mod 6 opened up some nice new raids and a really fun ‘live’ event which featured the Marketplace tent blowing up.  They have even incorporated some of the debris from that event into the new area, which I think is really cool.

Overall I think they did a really good job with this Mod, although those of us in the mid levels didn’t get much help, as much of 3B Cove is lower level stuff and they of course added some new raids and areas for all the capped level 16’s.

Overall an 8 out of 10.

We have all seen them, those slowly scrawling texts across our TV’s:

“The National Weather Service in (insert your City) has issued a (insert warning) for (insert county) until….”

Then when said thunderstorm or whatever passes through, you shrug your shoulders and wonder what all the worry was for.

What this has created is a false sense of security, people do not take National Weather Service warnings seriously and the results can be tragic.  What I hope to do here is to give you an idea of why the National Weather Service issues the warnings they do.

Flash Flood:  A Flash Flood warning means that the NWS radar has estimated that a significant amount of rain (or combination rain/snow melt) has fallen over a very short period of time, obviously if you don’t live in a flood prone area, you might not notice much (other than it is wet), but if you do live in a flood zone, then water may be rising fast, sometimes a several foot rise can occur in only a few minutes.  Also keep in mind that it is not necessary for it to be raining at your location to have a flash flood.  Flash flooding usually only lasts a couple of hours an is sometimes listed as an “Urban and Small Stream Advisory”.  The urban is for clogged storm drains and parking lots, which tend to collect water fast.

Flood Warning:  A flood warning is generally issued when flooding is expected to be a long duration event and is more widespread.  Main stem rivers may be involved, flooding is generally widespread, but may or may not be severe.  Water rises tend to be much slower than in flash flood situations and are thus more predictable.  Often a Flood watch is issued a day before the rain starts to alert people to the potential of flooding.

Severe Thunderstom Warning:  A Severe Thunderstorm Warning is issued when meteorologist, using sophisticated radar (or so they would like to think) has a thunderstorm that is producing winds of 55 mph or greater or 3/4″ inch hail or greater.  In Canada, heavy rain is also a criteria for a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.  A thunderstorm only has to exhibit these criteria once, in which case a warning is issued.  Sometimes one gust is all a storm has got, I have seen situations where the storm has dissipated prior to the Warning reaching the TV.

While many Severe Thunderstorm Warning barely if ever verify, you never know which ones will, which ones won’t.  Thus you should treat each warning seriously, that means moving to a sturdy shelter when these warnings go off and making sure your pets and children are accounted for.

Most Severe Thunderstorm warnings come after a Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued.  Watches are issued by the Storms Prediction Center  in Norman, Oklahoma, while warnings are issued by the individual National Weather Service offices.  However you do not need a Severe Thunderstorm Watch to have a warning.

Tornado Warning:  A Tornado Warning is issued, when either a) NWS Radar had indicated a tornado or at least, very strong rotation in the storm or b) a confirmed funnel cloud or c) a Tornado on the ground.  Like Severe Thunderstorm Warnings the vast majority never come true, but with a Tornado Warning, even if you don’t get a Tornado (and that is a good thing) you are likely to experience Severe Thunderstorm conditions with high straight-lined winds, hail and lots and lots of lightning.  If a Tornado Warning is issued for your area, you should head to your basement (if you feel awkward fold some laundry or something), if you don’t have a basement the lowest interior room of your house.  You should abandon cars and mobile homes if a tornado is spotted.  If caught in the open, lay flat in a ditch.  Its not so much the wind that will harm you, but the debris within the cloud.

There are of course other types of weather warnings, related to Winter Storms, Hurricanes and other events, but those will be discussed at a later time. 

Please take these weather warnings seriously, even though most to not do catastrophic damage, there is always that chance that the next time that warning scrolls across your screen it will.