Friday, October 25

Been a slow week birding wise. Like no birding.

Last weekend we were all down in West Lafayette for a mini family reunion. A good part of the McCoy, Eichhorn, and Ely clans were present. Lots of fun and frivolity, with a good time had by all.

Lise stayed down in West Lafayette so Molly and I were sharing a car. Between one car and getting dark about 6:30, getting out birding didn’t stand a chance.

Fall migration is still going on without me though. It really starts about the middle of August with shorebirds. As they taper out in September the next phase starts picking up. Small birds at night and raptors by the day. The Detroit River Hawk Watch has reported over 120,000 raptors migrating through since early September. Hawk counts are starting to taper down, coming just a bit shy of 3,600 birds today. As the hawks start dropping, reports of waterfowl flocks are picking up. I’m at 241 species but getting to 250 is starting to look a bit unlikely. Unless I spend a couple weeks up in the UP and another couple camped on the coastlines.

Last night we had the social highlight of the swim season; the girls swim team Senior Night. The seniors, including Molly, were paraded and feted right well. She did great in the meet too, taking first in an exhibition heat with a time that beat two people in the scoring heat, plus being on two first place relay teams.

Photos by various photographers, none of them me.