The Waiting Game

If you have been wondering why I haven't posted in a while, which you probably haven't, it is because I have been busy visiting friends in Milwaukee and then went on a booze-fueled road trip to Panama City Beach for a week with another group of friends. Although amusing, I'm sure a post during this time would have been rambling, incoherent and full of typos to say the least. Now I have come down with a nasty cold, or whatever the hell is going around, and it really sucks.

I did pick up a Lesser Black-backed Gull in Milwaukee before heading to my friends place. In Florida, when I wasn't enjoying the nice, new "scenery", I did pick up a few year birds. Don't worry, I triple checked with myself just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Fish Crow in the Wal-Mart parking lot while loading up on an unhealthy amount of frozen pizzas (and beer), and Laughing Gulls on the beach were two year birds in Florida. When our car broke down at 4am in the middle of nowhere in Kentucky (yikes!), I picked up a singing Eastern Phoebe as day broke.

Today I finally started feeling a little better from this cold, and it was kind of sunny, so I decided to give my new-ish lens a whirl. I managed to pick up this decent picture of a White-breasted Nuthatch. Given the distance and conditions, I was pleased.

It seems now is the period of time when we are awaiting the arrival of the migrant birds that people actually care about; Warblers, Vireos, Hawks, ect. Yeah, Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles were nice... for a day. At least it will give me time to get better before any real birding needs to be done.

I leave for Florida again in 16 days. This time I will be with my mom on a cruise to the Bahamas. I've already arranged for some birding to be done, so I'll finally get to see some new species.

Just a quick side note. If you have a Zeiss scope and are thinking about sending it in for repairs, I would think again. I sent my Diascope 65 T*FL in at least 6 weeks ago and haven't heard anything about it. I called yesterday and the lady told me they had to send it to Germany because they don't fix scopes in the U.S. and she was just waiting to hear from them. My guess is I won't have my scope before migration hits, and I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't have it before my job starts in Alaska. Thanks, Zeiss!