PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Burrowing Owl

This little guy was hanging out at the New Zoo in Green Bay, Wisconsin back on August 18 of 2010 - it was my birthday. He looks pretty determined and, no wonder, he was missing his left leg.

I'm sorry to say, but this week was a bit of a letdown as far as birding was concerned. I added two more birds to my list; black turnstone and Steller's Jay. The jays were around the local forest and neighbourhood and I never did get a good look at them. I know them by their call. The black turnstones turned up on a failed attempt to add some gulls to my list. There was a flock of the birds on the beach, poking among the rocks.
Now, as I mentioned, my real reason for going down to the beach for birds was to see gulls. I certainly saw a lot of them, but anything that wasn't a glaucous-winged gull was pretty much impossible for me to identify. I guessed at herring, Thayer's, mew, ring-billed, but I couldn't make a positive identification. Just when I thought I was getting close, all but the glaucous-winged disappeared. So, a potential of two or three more birds (which would have topped me at over 40 species) was lost in the hands of inexperience. I think I need a professional! I told my dad I was going to call up Mike Yip and ask if he would be my gull identification coach. Just joking, though, so Mr. Yip can rest at ease. Instead, I think I'll wait until the rain lets up and then try again with my camera. With pictures, I'll have all the time in the world to make an identification (let's hope that time helps).
So my list has expanded to just 39, one short of forty, for this week. And things don't look too bright for the future. I'm off to college in Florida again for the next few months and, while I may be able to get off on weekends to do some birding now and again, posts on this site will be rare. Don't expect weekly photos; they may not happen at all. It's going to be a brutally busy semester.