Tuesday, May 14

Not much new to report, despite the fact we are in the middle of the spring migration. Lots of stuff going on but you need to be out there to catch it. Mobility was a bit of an issue the past week. Lise was in Delaware with Stefan so Molly and I were sharing the Subaru. Which means I had to cycle to work. Between work, water polo, and limited mobility, birding was catch as catch can.

Tuesday, May 7, Barb and I chased a Eurasian widgeon at Trinkle Marsh, about an hour from here. It was seen in the company of two American widgeon, for several days and the evening before we went chasing. Apparently it was seen by many people and at one point cars were blocking the road by the marsh. Unfortunately it flew the coop during the night before we could get there. A day later a Eurasian widgeon in the company of two American widgeon was reported down at Erie Marsh, near the Ohio border. At least I did get my first of year common yellowthroat and eastern kingbird while at the marsh.

Friday I got in a little work related birding. I’ve been building a little application for hand-held computers so we can capture bird point count information electronically. No more paper field forms and spending time processing them. A co-worker and I went to Fenner to test the application. I got my Baltimore oriole and ovenbird for the year while on the job. Can’t beat getting paid to have fun.

Saturday there was an all-day water polo tournament down in Ann Arbor. The tournament was right across the street from Furstenberg Nature Area, a popular Ann Arbor birding spot on the Huron River. Had I played my cards right I could have gotten in some prime time birding. That, however, would require forethought and planning on my part, something that apparently goes away with sleep deprivation. I got in a little late afternoon time between matches and got my first of year blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Before Lise came home on Sunday I went out and about for a couple hours. Got catbird, black and white warbler, rose-breasted grosbeak, least flycatcher, purple martin, and northern rough-winged swallow.

Last night was the National Honor Society induction ceremony. For Molly, not me. I never had to worry about getting in my NHS volunteer hours. Molly went right from polo practice, dressed nicely and wearing her perfume, Eau de Chlorine. There can’t possibly be a living germ on her body. Unless she’s breeding some chlorine resistant super germ that’s about to be unleashed on humanity. The ceremony was nice but as one of her friends said, “One more candle and this would be a cult thing.”

This evening Lise and I went chasing grasshopper sparrow and Henslow’s sparrow at a Township park near here. We got the Henslow’s and also house wren. Henslow’s is a real good one to get since they are a threatened species and fairly rare in Michigan.

So right now our Michigan totals stand at 152 for me and 138 for Lise. I should point out that her count for the Delaware trip was 131 species so her total 2013 list is a bit higher than mine. I really haven’t gotten anything out of the ordinary that she hasn’t gotten so her Michigan list will close in on my pretty soon.

Percentage wise, I’m at 60.8% of the goal and Lise is at 55.2% with 45.2% of the year gone.

The next couple weeks could be critical. We are missing a whole host of warblers that migrate through this area for parts north. We only have another week, maybe two, to score on them. Otherwise we have to get them on their south bound journey when they’re a lot harder to find.