An Alleged Birding Trip & a Pillow Party

We drove over the the Lake Erie Marshes today-- the Magee Sportsmans Migratory Bird Center and the Magee Marsh Bird Trail and beach.  It's too early for the warbly's~~mostly, although Loopy says he saw his first yellow rump of the year (sounds like a personal problem to me).  I did see a robin.*  Wowza.



And my first butterfly of the year. I tried looking it up online, but that was a bust.  I have a butterfly book here somewhere, but it might still be packed up from last summer.  Anybody know what this is?

(Not my pic)

Also saw three ginormous dragon flies.  I was telling FTD about how my friend Rick N. takes pics of DFs and Damsel flies by catching them, cooling them in a cooler, taking their pic, and then they warm up and fly away.  Whadoyaknow, up walks Rick N. right at that moment.  I told him I saw the whoppers and he said he'd been looking but didn't see any.  I saw three!  I believe he said they were Green Darners--the big boys.  They are migratory and just arriving here.

The last time all four of us were in a good pic together. At Acadia, 2005.

This was the last chance all four of us will get to do something fun together.  It's not all that much fun when DH is complaining that he could be out splitting wood (like that woulda happened), FTD spends all of his time searching the car for a power cord for his DS, and DD spends all his time saying he's hungry then smacking FTD for no reason.  Yeah, we know how to have fun family trips.  They like it when we're there~~sorta~~but it's a pain to pull this off.   We did have a nice supper at Blackberry Corners, a local tavern frequented by birders, fisher and hunter persons.  Danny's favorite thing for the day were the dead birds on the beach.

Since I'm leaving early this year, I'll miss the Biggest Week In American Birding, as well as the waves of cool stuff that goes through here.  (Past posts about the BWAB here.)




*Okay, we also saw loads of mud hens, goosi, a couple of egrets, GBH, buzzards, a wren, and three birders who had all the answers.  I just didn't ask them any questions.  They did talk about the white Wagtail that folks are chasing up in Monroe Co. Mich.  If it weren't for the 6 mile hike I'd go up there for the hellofit.  It can usually only be seen in coastal Alaska or the Bering region of Russia.  Cool.  This is the third MI report.  One of these day's I'm going to figure out my life list. Yeah, sure, I'll get right on that.

I did see no fewer than 4 kestrels driving home from camp on Saturday.  We also had 2 hawks, probably coops, screaming at us in camp.





Crafty Time, Too.

I also got a little bit of sewing in before running away to Girl Scout Camp Libbey Friday and Saturday.  I love the way this turned out.  I'm making bigger wall hanging versions of this for retired ranger friends.  I had tons of strips left of some of the fabric so I made several extra blocks. I bought some pillows when they were on super-sale, not having any clue what I'd do with them, and this worked out.  I'm thinking Christmas presents already.  I went ahead and quilted the top--batting, backing the works, then sewed that to the back piece.  Worked out perfectly.  Even DH really likes it.

Hey, I just read about the Pillow Party! And looky here, my first pillow in ages.  I can't say much more because the aforementioned retiring rangers might be sneaking a peak!


And my friend Barb is the winner of the "When will the snow finally melt in the Duv's yard Contest."  Sometime Friday while I was at camp it all went bye-bye.  We'll get some more April snow, but it will melt quickly.  Then when we get to Madison Junction, we'll have to shovel our way to the laundry room.  Oh, well.  Today's hot, muggy weather reminds us why we go through the hassle of packing up and moving twice a year.






P.S.  I'll also be happier when I can actually put pictures and text where I want them in the blog.  I'm sorta picky about this kind of stuff, and it's frustrating to be so close and yet so far to getting the look I want.  Like it matters in the Big Scheme of Things.

T-Minus 4 Days and Success!

It worked. Two of DD's teachers pitched the idea of staying at his regular high school for another year, and he bought it. Wow. I am such a wizard. It really wasn't as hard as we thought it would be. His teachers added a couple of incentives--one of his jobs next year will be as an office monitor, the kids who run notes around the building and stuff, and he's now "training" to be a gym assistant next year. And according to him, he'll get to drive the golf cart around as part of his gym job! What!!!!!! omg. If they think he can do it, more power to him. So DH and I are really pleased that the system is finally working for him.

I took a busman's holiday today and drove out to Magee Marsh to check out the warbler action. I had more fun watching the warbler-watchers than anything else. I did get glimpses of 2 birds, and took some pics. I put my contacts in before I left, but they must be really dirty because I had to take them out when I got there. Taking pictures with glasses on is a pain and I'll have to re-learn how to do it. And our long lens is hard to focus. The auto focus is really weird, so I keep it turned off. But I also haven't come close to mastering it with or without glasses. Something to work on this summer.

Mystery bird pics-- since everyone else was taking pictures of them and going, "oohh" and "ahhh" and "great bird" and today's most uttered phrase, "That's a lifer for me" I decided to post these crumby pictures. Feel free to post id's for me! More (and better pictures) later.

Kudos to Kim Kaufmann for pulling off the "Biggest Week in American Birding." I have long maintained that if you want to promote something just print up glossy, full-color, tri-fold flyers and it becomes true. Kim went waaaaay beyond that to promote this. I have also long maintained that something like this should happen. My hat is off to Kim, and Julie Shieldcastle (founder) and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. For those of you who don't know Kim, picture me, but on heavy duty steroids! Way to go, ladies!