Birding for the Faint of Heart

Things have been busy rapping up the last weeks of my internship, but I wanted to update everyone on my life list status. Since my last post on birdwatching, I've got ten new species. Unfortunately, many of my pictures from my field notes are not ready to be posted but in the near future, I hope to offer a more complete picture of my time spent in Indiana. Until then, here are the new birds for the list:

Unfortunately, we've all seen this picture before. I should have new

pictures for posts coming in the near future.

132: Wild Turkey - I rather enjoyed encountering these strange birds. The first time I saw them was about eight years ago or more near Yellowstone National Park. A few of them were in the distance as we drove past an opening in a forest by the highway. It was a fleeting glimpse. This summer, I saw several more on the side of the railway tracks from South Bend to Chicago. Most recently, one was seen at Indiana Dunes State Park on the 27th of July. Walking down a closed boardwalk (due to flooding) I heard something rustling in the brush along the edge of the swamp. I crouched for a closer look and determined that some creature with a bushy face was crawling out from under a pine tree. Its rear end emerged and a long curved tail spun around. Of course, I'd been looking at it backwards--the tail was its neck and head. They are strange but beautiful birds.

133: Red-headed Woodpecker - On a suburban road near the Tippecanoe River. Startlingly brilliant.

134: Tree Swallow - Also at the Tippecanoe, swooping low over the water, often juveniles, either practicing flight, playing games, or catching insects. Undoubtedly the adults were after mayflies or the like.

135: Black-billed Cuckoo - Skulking around the lakes at Notre Dame. Cuckoos have always struck me as very exotic, as I mentioned in a post when I saw the yellow-billed species.

136: Tufted Titmouse - Also at the Notre Dame lakes, these birds were much larger than I expected.

137: Rose-breasted grosbeak - My final trip to Potato Creek State Park turned up three new species for my list, including this one, seen at a bird feeder outside the nature center.

138: Eastern Phoebe - Seen hunting invertebrates above the trail in Potato Creek's forest canopy.

139: White-eyed Vireo - A family of these birds was seen off of one of the trails at Potato Creek State Park.

140: American Black Duck - Undoubtedly, many of the "mallards" at Notre Dame are actually American black ducks, I only just noticed them now.

141: Snowy Egret - I thought it was a great egret at first but, on closer inspection, it was certainly too small for that.