Sunday, November 17

Got number 248. Yesterday a rufous hummingbird was reported about 15 minutes away in Holt, coming to a feeder in someone’s yard. It has probably been around for at least a month. They noticed that all the ruby-throated hummingbirds were gone but this little brown one was still hanging around. They got a contact for someone that bands hummingbirds and he put the word out.

It was dark by the time I found out about it and Lise was down in West Lafayette. As soon as she got back this morning we lit out to find it. We snuck around the above ground pool and waited about 15 minutes before the little devil popped up. Number 248 for me and 241 for Lise. I’m at 99.2% of the target and Lise is at 96.4 with 87.9% of the year gone.

For the first time in weeks I feel like I’ll make the target. I should be able to get a screech owl locally but that’s about the only local species I would expect. Which means chasing somewhere, most likely on one of the coastlines. A nice thought in the summer but a really different beast in the winter. Robert Service poems come to mind.

To put my Michigan wide count in perspective, one of our local birders just set a new county record. The rufous hummingbird gave him 228 species this year, just in this county. A fair number of the species on my list came from his postings on the local birding listserve. His record might not be that high for a coastal county but it is pretty impressive for this place.

I’ve been a bit hindered the past couple weeks with some lower back issues. Lots of problems sitting or standing for too long at a time. Spent a lot of time laying on the futon with my laptop sitting on my stomach. Which isn’t too bad for work since I’m primarily a computer jockey. I can write programs as easily laying on my back as sitting up in a cloth covered cell called a cubicle.

Since I can’t work out I’ve had some free time to catch up on things. I have an account on the photo sharing site called Flickr. I started exploring Flickr a bit. Lots of really good stuff. I started following a Scottish photographer named Colin Campbell (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruiach1/). I don’t usually post links but his work is worth checking out. Some really stunning pictures. I’m torn between being incredibly inspired to do just as good or bowing to futility and hanging up my camera. So today I got motivated and played with a couple photos from the past. Unfortunately I can’t sit at my desk long enough to do really serious work.