Not much for us bird wise this past week. With crazy schedules and only one working car we didn’t get in any chasing . Tomorrow and Saturday aren’t looking too good either. We are timers at the high school league swim meet. Shame we can’t be out there chasing. Lot’s of crazy birds around the Great Lakes, compliments of the former hurricane Sandy. Downgrading him from a hurricane to a tropical storm seems to have just made him mad. Let’s ee, maybe I’ll put this tanker down in the middle of Manhattan. How about rearranging the houses in this subdivision. Now do you believe in climate change? Still want to build right on the beach?
I guess you have to find a bright side where ever you can. Like Mayor Bloomberg’s comment that New York,“hasn’t had a murder in two or three days now.” Can’t expect that to last. With all the bagel shops and delis closed I expect food riots in Lower Manhattan any time now. I wonder if Fox News has figured out a way to blame President Obama for Sandy yet. I’m sure Sandy only happened because of Obama’s economic policies.
The Great Lakes had some wild weather with 30 foot waves reported on Michigan. Birders around the lakes have reported a dovekie on Lake Michigan, brandt at Saginaw Bay and Port Huron, little gull, Sabine’s gull and black-legged kittiwake in Saginaw Bay, red phalarope, white-winged, black, and surf scoters at Port Huron, and red crossbills at Lake St. Clair. Also a vermillion flycatcher up in Alger County of the Upper Peninsula but I seriously doubt that is a result of Sandy.
We got out to Lake Lansing for a bit this evening. Hoping something crazy would blow in like out on the big water. No interesting east coast Atlantic Ocean birds for us though. A ton of gulls, one of which was a Franklin’s. For truth in reporting, the regulars at the lake spotted the Franklin’s in the middle of about a thousand other gulls. Once we knew it was there we could find it, but it is highly unlikely we would have found it on our own.
Franklin’s are a good bird for here. They nest out in the upper Great Plains and way up into Canada, migrating through the Great Plains down to South America. The regulars at Lake Lansing have been spotting Franklin’s on and off for the past couple weeks. We already have a Franklin’s so the count hasn’t budged. Still a good bird to see.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 