Big doings this weekend. Water polo regional tournament and ……”the prom”.
They did so-so in the regional. They won enough to make it to the State championships, but they also lost to a team that they have beaten twice before. Molly did good. She’s only in her second year but she is the first substitute on the varsity team. She got in a good bit of play time and she scored two goals in the regional matches. She also had some assists and defensive steals. One of the girls Molly had to guard was a high school All-American and Molly did right good against her. I believe she only scored once while Molly was guarding her.
The regional was down in Saline (where we got chimney swifts) and the same day as the prom. On the hour drive back from the tournament Molly was primping up in the car. Ian, her prom date and also a water polo player, came to the tournament and provided logistical support in the transition from water rat to something a tad bit classier. Ian has known Molly and us since kindergarten so I didn’t need to write his name on a bullet and show it to him.
Loading up the mobile beauty parlor.
Ian holding the nail polish coming back from the tournament. Beauty parlor at 70 mph.
Before (Craig Wozena photo)
After. Don’t ya think they clean up right nice.
Moo and Ian, ready for the prom.
“The futures so bright, I gotta wear shades.” Pat McDonald, Timbuk3.
The beautiful people.
The paparazzi.
Ian making life difficult for the paparazzi.
Molly got in at 4:30 AM, after a tournament and the prom, and woke up less than an hour after we did. There was a time I was a hard charger too. Now I’m hardly charging. I don’t know what happened but I seem to like checking out my eyelids for light leaks a lot more than hearty partying.
Except for the chimney swifts we got during lunch in Saline, weekend birding was pretty much out of the picture. We got in a little Thursday and Friday morning before work. Barb told us about a nearby drying up farm pond with a bunch of shorebirds. We scurried out there and got dunlin, semipalmated plover, least sandpiper and a real treat, great views of American pipits. We also hit a couple other local spots and got eastern wood peewee, indigo bunting, magnolia warbler, Tennessee warbler, white-crowned sparrow, red-eyed vireo, white-eyed vireo, warbling vireo, American redstart, Wilson’s warbler and chestnut-sided warbler. The Wilson’s and chestnut-sided are migrant species that we missed last year. Really good to get those two. The white-eyed vireo was a real treat. This is a very rare bird up here. It popped up right in front of us and we got great looks at it. Then it flew off and we couldn’t relocate it. This is a bird we should have posted on the listserve but I was uncomfortable doing that since we couldn’t relocate it. Plus I got sidetracked at work and forgot about it until later in the day.
So right now the Michigan count stands at 170 for me and 162 for Lise. That’s a jump of 18 species for me and 24 for Lise since last post. Getting eighty more species is going to be challenging. We are probably running out of time for the migrants passing through this area. Pretty soon we’ll have to switch focus to chasing the summer residents that we don’t have yet. That means some trips around Michigan and chasing rarities.
This past week I got to play in Barb and Ellen’s wetland a little too. The gray tree frogs were partying hearty. Frogs and toads should be finishing up their mating business pretty soon. They got to get their eggs in the water so the young have time to go through the metamorphosis cycle and mature yet this year. But now that it has finally turned warm here, the dragonflies should be coming out. Another pleasant distraction even if it takes me away from the birding goal.
Gray tree frogs trying to hook up. Giving it their best, “Hey baby.”
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 