This week has been the back to work grind. Hard to come back to Cubicle World after a week or so bopping around a different ecological system in 70 degree temperatures. But, as the seven dwarves sang, “I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go.” Back to Dilbertville for me.
Friday evening Lise and I went down Ann Arbor way to try for short-eared owls. There is an area east of Ann Arbor where they are seen on a regular basis. Right at dusk they come out and fly around the open fields. Not so this past Friday. It was cold and there was a pretty stiff west wind that likely kept them down. Lise decided to make this year her “birds you can see from inside a warm car” year.
We busted on the owls but we should be able to get them another day. They are pretty regular at that site. Maybe a better find was the five pheasants we saw in a nearby field. These are not a rare species but you need to be in the right place at the right time to see them. This was one of Lise’s problem species last year. Seeing five cock pheasants playing in the snow was a treat, even if these are an introduced species. We also saw a large flock of snow buntings flying around. A problem species for me last year.
Pheasants through the bushes. Handheld, biggish lens, low light so a not so hot picture.
Those white things are a flock of fast moving snow bunting at almost dark. Go for the zen, not the details.
Afterwards we met our friend Phyllis for dinner at Casey’s Tavern in Ann Arbor. While we were fighting the cold winds, Phyl was fighting the Friday crowds, staunchly holding a table for us during Friday night dinner rush. It wasn’t pretty but she held the line.
Yesterday Lise and I did a Saturday morning walk in the snowy fields at Rose Lake. Bird wise it was just the usual suspects until Lise found a white-winged crossbill as we were heading out. Same place we had them last year too.
Fields at Rose Lake.
I finally had a little time to revisit the Michigan bird list. There are 434 species on the list, including 79 accidentals and 5 extirpated species. One of the extirpated species is the ivory-billed woodpecker with the annotation of “needs citation.” Not likely we will be seeing that one. The accidentals are just that, accidental. Like anhinga. Having just left 70 degree Florida, the only reason for an anhinga to be here in 20 degree Michigan would be one rather nasty accident. I don’t think the size of an anhinga brain lends itself to a lot of cognitive processing but they have to know they don’t belong here.
So removing the extirpated and accidental species we are left with 350 species. I went through the list and came up with ~210 species that one could reasonably expect to find if in the right habitat at the right time of year. Mostly just being there at the right time in the right season. Not too challenging, just using some gas and time. So I’m going to up my goal for the year to 250 species in Michigan. Barb, a much better birder than I am, got 265 in Michigan last year. Given that a lot of my traveling this year will be out of state college visits I can live with a 250 species goal. Now I need to convince the family of that. And figure out how many can be seen from the inside of a toasty warm car.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 