I've about had enough of this 30+ degrees stuff! At least it helps with mosquitoes, and the sun rose and warmed the air some after about stop 15. Stops 1 and 3 were special this morning. After worrying that singing Whip-poor-wills would escape me on this expedition, 3 were calling this morning at stop 1. If you hope to tally this species on a BBS, one must begin the survey promptly at the official, "30 minutes before sunrise" starting time - I've never heard one farther along a survey route than at stop 2.
The landscape at stop 3 could have been taken from one of Tom Uttech's paintings. It had the darkness, the bare (dead) coniferous trees, the water, a red sky from the sunrise, some strategically placed clouds - it was all there minus the bear. I would like to personally invite everyone to Tom's major show at the Milwaukee Art Museum that opens in less than 2 weeks. It is a must see. Visit the Museum's website for details.
Today's route produced a nice total - 79 species, and the warbler list wasn't overly large - 11 species. The 3 species added to the route's cumulative list were Herring Gull, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and Northern Cardinal. The route was last surveyed in 1997 (78 species) and 1998 (72 species). A singing Henslow's Sparrow heard during one of last stops was a nice addition to the Quad 30 checklist. This species is quite uncommon in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
I narrowly avoided one crisis - I forgot my packet of M&Ms in my room, but a country store strategically placed less than a half mile off the route between stops 25 and 26 saved the day. And after days of all those red, white, and blue M&Ms, it was nice to look in and see green, yellow, etc. And, oh yes, I now have a new passenger - my right rear tire is riding in the luggage compartment with a 2" piece of wire (looks like wire from a chain-link fence) sticking out of it while my trusty spare, although small, is carrying the day. Apparently my Saturn Vue takes an uncommon tire size - there are none of the correct size in the Iron Mountain area.
