We finally scored this evening. Lately most of our trips have been weather disasters. Biblical rains or tornado strength winds. Or just the opposite. Last night there was a 100% chance of rain right at the time the gulls would have been coming in. So we blew it off and stayed home. Guess what, no rain but several lesser black-backed gulls spotted.
This evening we did a trip to Lake Lansing to chase lesser black-backed gulls. Comfortably warm, no wind and the lake was beautifully calm. This would have been a nice evening to be out for any reason but it got better. Lise spotted a long sought-after lesser black-backed gull for us. Then we stayed around and one of the great local birders spotted a Franklin’s gull. Two new species for the year and the Franklin’s gull was a lifer. That brings our totals up to 314 for me and an even 300 for Lise.
We are still fighting time though. I’m at 89.7% of the goal, Lise is at 85.7 but 81.5% of the year is gone. Old man time just keeps ticking on, relentlessly catching up all the while. Now I know how Obama feels.
Winter species are drifting in but we have a couple handicaps to deal with. It’s starting to get dark early. Not much time for birding by the time I get home from work and get ready to go out.
Then there is the little matter of the deer that committed suicide using our car. We were coming home from our Indiana owl banding trip. It was ~1:30 AM, a mile from home after a three-hour drive , and this thing jumps out of nowhere smack into the front of the van. That close to home and this damn beast decides things are just going too peachy for us. Didn’t get the carcass either. Gutting a deer on Okemos Road and hanging it in the front yard would be a bit too gauche for here. Might be acceptable behavior in Haslett or Holt but this is Okemos.
The real irony is that we drove home that night instead of getting a motel to save the $90. So now we are trying to juggle three schedules around one vehicle. Make that four schedules. The lizard had to go to the vet for her manicure today.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 