Mirror Images and Bino Bras

Where Robin headed north today, I Bigbyed south along the lake in a near mirror image of her route. The trio of Barn Swallows (63) that had joined the Tree Swallows over McKinley Marina were my first new birds of the day. As I posted to our Twitter feed three Ruddy Ducks (64) were diving with 19 Horned Grebes in the harbor near Veterans Park and the Art Museum. One was a male in full breeding plumage with an eye-popping blue bill. I finally had a Pied-billed Grebe (65) and great looks at Lesser Scaup (66) in the Lakeshore State Park lagoon. Also finally saw my first Yellow-rumped Warbler (68) of the year above the Wolcott Statue in Lake Park. A Chipping Sparrow (69) was one of the few non-House Sparrows at the Wolcott feeders. In Locust Ravine, I was nearly run down by some maniac on a bike. The maniac turned out to be Tim. I suspect he was trying to knock off the competition.

The new birds were all great today, but the real highlight of the day came while I was sitting on the shoreline rocks sorting through the hundred or so ducks napping and diving off of North Point. From the bike trail behind me I heard, "Hey look, that guy's got a harness for his binoculars! Oh man, you know when you got a harness for your binoculars, you...[inaudible, except for accompanying laughter]." As the group was just moving out of earshot, the last comment I heard from the same sharp-eyed commentator on the human experience: "he's lookin' for ships!" Ships? Really? Do people watch ships? Live and learn.

Alright, I admit the binocular harness isn't exactly fashionable, but at least I don't look like this guy.