Dicksissel! They’re here all summer. We’re not. We’ve never seen one. Time to go see one before they’re gone for the year. They’re plentiful and easy to spot. They like grassy and fallow fields. They’re small like sparrows and even hang out with flocks of house sparrows sometimes. So off we went this morning to get the dicksissel. We were seventy-five miles away, at Sandia by dawn. We knew right where they’d be. We drove the one-lane backroads at a crawl, looking at every bird we saw. By the time we were a couple hours into it, we had picked up the pace, only looking at birds on fences and wires we didn’t recognize immediately. By noon we were done. No dicksissels. Guess they’re gone for the year.
Meanwhile, we got thirty-five birds and saw wood storks and magnificent frigatebirds. Got a picture of one of the wood storks coming in. Neither are new birds, but both are
Spent a few minutes at paradise pond watching warblers. Took a walk on the beach. Added to the day list.
Counted up the year-list. We’re at 341 species for 2008.
