Serendipity is such a nice thing.
Saturday I spent the day chasing leads. First I tried for a golden eagle in Jackson County, and then drove down to Crosswinds Marsh in southeast Michigan to chase a reported slaty-backed gull and Thayer’s gull. No luck on either, try though I may. Then I headed east of Ann Arbor to try for short-eared owls. There’s a spot where they are seen on a fairly regular basis. I say fairly regular because they haven’t been there the past three times I looked for them. Saturday was different. Dusk, almost dark, and three of them flew up to put on a show. Species 249 for the year.
Options for number 250 were pretty slim. Sunday we had a postponed Christmas dinner with the Hall family. The day was spent doing fun things, making a turkey dinner and getting other chores like bottling beer done. None of which contribute to the species count. I kept checking eBird, hoping that someone would report a purple sandpiper or something else along the coastline. No luck there, only cold trails. After dinner Lise and I tried for screech owls around here. All we got was cold. At Rose Lake we heard a pack of coyotes which was pretty cool but didn’t add to the species list.
Today was another typical cold, gray, dismal mid-Michigan winter day. Feeling a bit bummed about the prospects for hitting 250, I came up with a plan to chase some Jackson County leads. Jackson County is the birthplace of the Republican Party. Maybe a good idea in Lincoln’s time but even good ideas go bad sometimes. Mr. and Mrs. Hitler never expected little Adolf to go bad.
If you can get by the Republican Party mistake, Jackson County does have some redeeming qualities. Much better terrain than around here and many more birding opportunities. I thought we could chase some older golden eagle leads, then after sundown hit a preserve for screech owls. These were about the only possible species I thought we had a chance of getting. We were at Watkins Lake, seeing a bunch of raptors, but no golden eagle. As we were losing light, Lise caught a glimpse of a raptor flying parallel to the road we were on. We were driving to a vantage point when we realized that point wouldn’t work. Lise pulled into a farmhouse driveway to turn around and said, “I think I just saw a mockingbird in those bushes.” Mockingbirds are uncommon in Michigan and not here in winter. About the time I said, “are you sure it isn’t a shrike,” a northern mockingbird flew out right in front of us. Number 250, a result of serendipity and Lise’s sharp eyes. Time for an Irish whiskey and to think about the wrap up for the year.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 