June 4, 2015, 30,000 Feet Over the Midwest 鈥 I awoke this morning ready to start the second half (well, seven months) of the year. A week at home in Oregon has been relatively relaxing, but I鈥檝e maxed out the birds of my home state, and the clock is ticking鈥攖ime to get moving again!
This morning after breakfast I psyched myself up with a run on the treadmill. Ten minutes into my run, though, a bird butted in: I glanced out the window, and a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak was on my bird feeder! Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are rare on the West Coast, so to have one show up at home was quite a surprise. I jumped off the treadmill, grabbed my camera, snapped a photo, and posted it to the local birding listserv. Four birders from Eugene (a 25-minute drive away) soon asked if they could come look for the grosbeak, and each of them鈥擲ally, Sylvia, Barbara, and Barry鈥攇ot good looks at it this afternoon as the bird made regular visits to the feeder, and as I packed to head toward the eastern hemisphere. It was a strange day to see the rarest bird I鈥檝e ever spotted at home, but, as one person commented, 鈥渕aybe it鈥檚 doing a big year of its own.鈥
The grosbeak was fun, but I saw hundreds of them on their wintering grounds months ago. I worried that today might break my five-month-long, bird-a-day streak: The only conceivable new species I might still pick up in western Oregon was Ruffed Grouse, which is a tough one. Nevertheless, with a free hour, my mom and I decided to try a logging road near my house where I鈥檝e seen grouse in the past, hoping to kick one up.
Fifteen minutes into our walk, my mom said something like 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 looking good, is it?鈥 and, literally before I could answer, I nearly stepped on a Ruffed Grouse hiding in the grass. It burst from underfoot with a whirr of wings and bombed into the bushes, flaring its banded tail. We looked at each other and burst out laughing鈥攚hat a ridiculous stroke of luck!
In late afternoon, my mom and dad dropped me at the Eugene Airport, and I hugged them goodbye for another seven months. As I stepped on the plane for a redeye to the east coast, I felt calm, relaxed, reflective, and excited for the rest of this stacked-up year. It was easy to slip into the sky tonight, where I鈥檓 resting at 30,000 feet. This life is simple, really: Bird, eat, bird, sleep, bird, repeat.
New birds today: 1
Year list: 2729
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