It seems that nobody has any time for anything these days. I mean, seriously, did you look recently at the local bookstore best sellers? Make your pick : the 5 mn abs plan, the 3 mn diet, speaking french (or german, or japanese) in only 30 secs a day, getting rich in one hour a day
There is a book I have still to find (maybe there is a money making idea here), it is the "how to build a county list in 30 mn a week".
So far, unlike my 5 mn abs plan (nobody told me that future dads are also gaining weight during a pregnancy!!!), I have been doing pretty well on the quick county list business idea (maybe it is only a motivation issue!)
So then I realized last week that a field check was highly required in west washtenaw county for my job, I jumped on the opportunity. Cross checking the ebird data base, the south michigan birding email list, and my county list, I realized than my best chance to earn a tick on my county list was a marsh wren that was heard about a mile away from my field check. With luck, I was going to be able to squiz a county bird into my 30 mn lunch. They were other nice birds seen around (henslow sparrows, for instance), but I only focused on potential county birds....
It took me 10 anxious minutes (one third of my time!!!) to hear the bird..........
Marsh Wren. Jeeez these buggers are hard to shoot!!!!
Minutes later, I noticed an obvious empidonax flycatchers perched on a dead tree. It reminded me that the willow flycatcher was missing on my list....10 more minutes of anxious waiting, and the bird reluctantly emitted the "riittzzzbeuh". That was county bird #191 and 192!!!!!
Trumpeter Swan
Silvery Checkerspot
8 comments:
Congrats om the new additions of your list!
Nice job, and yes, you'll be rich! Expand the book idea to "How to gather 10,000 birds on your life list with 30 mn a day" and you'll never have to worry about anything anymore!
I am a bit envious of the Marsh Wren. This was a species I had seen nicely in 1987 and also during my 4 week Ontario-Michigan dash in 2005 so it simply was a bit off my radar during my Ann Arbor year. I therefore noticed afterwards that I hadn't seen one all year! Dang, they are nice and looking back now, I really would have appreciated one.
Mel : thanks for the comment!
Jochen : what's about the sedge wren? This is the next on my target list.......
Hi Laurent,
well I only heard Sedge Wren on the UP in 2005 (at Seney, wonderful place) and then saw one nicely in August 2007 around St. louis, and that was that (see this post of mine:
http://belltowerbirding.blogspot.com/2007/08/belltower-birders-birthday-bells-next.html )
No idea where and how regularly they occur in Washtenaw but as far as I know they can be found occasionally. I think I remember Dea Armstrong mentioning them from the AA landfill.
sigh.
I miss it. It was a grand ol' time!
I know where to find them in Washtenaw county....I only need to find the time....
They might takelonger than 15 minutes to see even if you can hear them singing all the while, so that might be a stepping stone...
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It's always a great pleasure to read your articles! And the photos are absolutely great!
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