Thread by @phylogenomics

The goats of a Christmas, passed

And yes, I did just go out for a drive around #DavisCA looking for goats in order to make this joke ...

I note - I was all decked out in my Christmas themed outfit (alas, trimmed my large beard a few weeks ago to get a better mask fit thanks to pointers from @CorsIAQ) - but it was raining so hard I did not get out of my car to do a selfie with the goats

https://twitter.com/phylogenomics/status/1474791065118855171?s=20

And as noted here - I got stressed b/c the goats were not in the spot where I have seen them a lot recently

https://twitter.com/phylogenomics/status/1474805473303924740?s=20

So I took a break and went to look for birds at the Woodland-Davis water treatment plant for a few minutes. And, well, got some nice shots of a red tailed hawk in the rain, so that was good

And then I called my mom b/c she had said there had been many goats near her house in #DavisCA but they were not there. So I drove off into the rain looking for another place to find the goats. I went on a few side roads, found a bunch of sheep, and then, sadly headed home.

And there they were, at the spot where they were not when I had looked 30 minutes before. I had driven past them so I pulled over, to the shoulder, backed up, and then slowly drove past while on the shoulder and made this video ...

And here are a few pics of the "Goats of Christmas" I took with my birding camera ...

Oh, and I also saw a Bonaparte's gull walking on water ...