Lise had to go to Chicago so Molly and I went out chasing some new species this afternoon. The weather was gloomy, cold and clammy. I was trying for white-winged crossbills and snow buntings. Both species have been reported in large numbers to the southeast of here.
Busted on both of them. I found the park where the crossbills have been reported on a fairly regular basis. Several other people were there too, but none of us saw any crossbills. Looking for snow buntings, we drove the roads in the area where Lise and I saw the short-eared owls a couple weeks ago. We found another birder parked by the road. He said that said there were buntings far across the snow covered fields that can be seen against the trees when they fly. I saw some small light colored birds but nothing I could in good conscious say was a snow bunting.
The trip was not a total bust. I did get a ring-necked pheasant and a northern harrier. That brings my list up to 60. That puts me at February 29 using the species-a-day metric.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 