I forgot to run this by the head editor. I fixed the percentages error
Finally got a screech owl this morning. Went out to get the paper and the owl was calling away from the neighbor’s yard. Lise heard it too. Now I’m at 310 species, Lise at 296 and a combined count of 311. I’m at 88.5% of the goal, Lise at 84.5% but we are up to 75.4% of the year gone. And it ain’t coming back. Tick, tick, tick, tick……..
The red line keeps getting closer.
Not likely we will get too many new species around here for a couple weeks. Migrants will be coming through but you really need to be in the right place at the right time. Warblers are still coming through but they are tough to find. Think little yellow birds flitting around in yellow leaves and not vocalizing to help track the varmints down. Also way up in the canopy right over your head so you need to bend over backwards looking through binoculars. That loud popping sound you hear is the sound of my lower back muscles ripping loose.
Lise and I went for a walk Sunday afternoon and got great looks at black-throated greens and a black-throated blue. These names sound like something out of Monty Python. “Beautiful plumage these Norwegian Blue parrots.” We already have both species but its always nice to see them. The black-throated blue was at eye level too. For once we didn’t need to be bent backwards looking in the tree canopy.
At home we some put water out and the birds found it within minutes. We have red-breasted nuthatches at our feeders. Fun little birds but we already have them on the list. What we need to have show up in our yard is a pygmy nuthatch. It would only be about a thousand miles out of its range. Or we need a quick trip to the Southern Rockies or the Sierra Nevada to find them. We had a white-crowned sparrow show up too. Unlikely it will stick around too long but always fun to see.
No swim tournaments this weekend so we could take a day to chase things. There’s a Eurasian collared dove at some guy’s house down in Barry County. We heard about it from Fred but it wasn’t on any listserve. Unfortunately it showed up on a listserve today so word is out. It may get a bit crowded at this poor person’s house this weekend. He wanted to be called before anyone came and had his phone number posted. That may not have been wise. That’s like asking telemarketers to call at dinner time because that’s when you’re home.
Then there is the Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow. Apparently some have been found in grassy wetlands around here. They are only found where there are grasses growing through water. The birds sit real tight and you almost have to step on them to have the flush. Some people drag a rope along the ground between themselves to help flush the birds. When the birds do flush they only stay up for a few seconds. Getting one to perch for a 10 second look at them is considered great. For this 10 second look you need to expect to spend “a couple hours getting wet, muddy, and tired walking through difficult terrain. Expect to fall down a number of times.” Let’s see, getting a root canal, attending a staff meeting, listening to presidential campaign coverage, chasing a Nelson’s,…. hmmmm.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 