Final leg of our journey back home from Texas. We stayed in Muskogee, Oklahoma for the night and got up early to head north towards a certain bird that we were calling Angel cause its a jynx to say the real name. The first 3 hours of the drive were dull until I checked on my and saw that Angel was still there today! Over the course of the next 4 hours, excitement slowly started building with the pass of each mile. 180, 120, 60, 30, 15,5... Finally! After about 7 hours of driving we arrive to see Angel sitting on top of a Marina roof, just chilling. We got it! Now I can say, Angel is an Ivory Gull but it sure did look like an Angel. A very rare bird to be in the lower 48 so many people were jumping at the chance to see this gorgeous bird. A true stunner in its all white adult plumage. Normally found way up north in the cold Arctic Circle, this bird had caught some winds and drifted all the way down to the Mississippi River in Quincy, IL. Still can't believe the beauty of this gull. We were very lucky to have seen this bird. Things had to fall into place perfectly and it was not really out of the way on our return trip. A life bird for all of us and a fantastic way to end such a great trip. Also seen there was my lifer Eurasian Tree Sparrow, how convenient. We also picked up a few more year birds while we were there and on the rest of the trip home. I am now finally back in Ohio and start school again on the 12th. Ugh! Oh well, it was an absolute blast starting the year off like this. The return voyage home was ridiculous. Seeing a Brown Booby (tropical bird) and an Ivory Gull (arctic bird) in 2 days was insane and they both happen to fall along the route home! Couldn't have been more perfect! Big thanks to Dan and Shawn for all the fun on this trip. Looking forward to the next one but for now, its time for school and a few Ohio birds.
Just a few stats from the past 10 days. Birds seen, 235 species which is good enough to currently be ranked 3rd in the ABA according to eBird behind Cameron Carver and Dan (stupid Virginia Rail). I saw 67 life birds on this trip bringing my current life list to 390! We traveled a total of about 4097 miles in 10 days and we were in 11 states! (I asked Dan to take a quick 5 min detour so we could go into Kansas since I've never been there). Quite an insane trip. The next weeks will be spent in Ohio while Dan flies off to California to continue his lower 48 big year. Please follow him along at his blog, http://www.birdingthecandle.blogspot.com/
Oh and I am still sorting through pictures and working on my flickr page, may take a few more days! haha.
3rd place that's it?
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