Subject: Listing
Date: Aug 7 12:43:35 1995
From: Susan Collicott - camel at serv.net



Remember way back, when we listed our silly lists?

Well, I have a new one.

Birds Seen While On Board An Aircraft Carrior In Motion!

(Unfortunately, it is limited to gulls and some familiar ducks, as I was
without binocs, and most of my attention was on the SE's and EA6's that were
taking off and recovering, about 50 feet in front of me...)


Just a few days ago, I returned from a trip to Northport, Michiga, where I
was in a brother's outdoor wedding. So I guess I could start a "Birds seen
during wedding ceremonies" list (Turkey Vulture, Barn Swallow, House Finch,
Eastern Bluebird, House Sparrow, some black-and-white warbler [have to look
that one up when I finally get unpacked], and Robin). It was really great.
The day was sunny and breezy, the swallows were having a feast above the
new-mown pasture, and while I was standing there (contemplating the clouds
during the sermon part of the ceremony) I saw 6 TVs come wafting down the
sky towards the farm. Then they circled the wedding (perhaps smelling the
caterers cooking the 150 pheasants?) and then drifted over to the cherry
orchard and disappeared down into the low trees. The farmer suggested they
were going after the rabbits that have exploded in population in his orchard,
but I didn't think TVs went after live prey - do they?

The locals, when they discovered I was out birding (and not out trying to steal
their black sweet cherries - mmmmmmm!), told me about recent north-bound
migrations. It seems that birds that usually hop over the Mackinaw Straits
are, more and more often, coming up the Lelenau Penninsula and becoming quite
confused at the large stretch of water between the end of the penninsula, and
Northern Michigan. They will circle and circle for hours/days, sometimes
roosting in the cherry orchards (and actually causing quite some damage,
although a number of growers assured me it was worth the damage, to see some
of the birds) before something makes them head north. Wish I could go back
there next spring and see this. I now have in-law relatives that live in the
prime migration-roosting area - wonder if I could impose...

Susan Collicott
camel at serv.net
Seattle, WA