Bird 100! (We love nature).

Listening to a Pileated Woodpecker.

For anyone who hasn't checked my list lately, I got to bird 99 last Monday on Manitoulin Island. I went out in the woods behind my house last night after the kids went to bed and called for owls. Didn't get any responses. And I'm actually quite happy I didn't. Crazy as that might sound, it gave me the perfect opportunity to get bird 100 with my entire family by my side.

I woke this morning at 5:30 to the sound of the same American Robin that wakes me every morning. Instead of getting right up, I fell back to sleep, woke about 7 and headed down to make a Birds & beans coffee. When Rachel and the kids got up, I made everyone bacon and eggs. Then, I suggested we all go for a hike in the Orono Crown Lands. We have over 600 hectares of protected forest surrounding Orono. Orono loves nature almost as much as we do. We wandered around the forest, stopping at the creek and watching the Rainbow Trout that are upstream to spawn. I got that itchy feeling only a fisherman knows. Season opens next saturday. Soon there'll be fresh trout on the dinner table.

Kids watching the Rainbow Trout.

We saw and heard lots of the usual birds for the area. One bird was a new one for me. A Brown Creeper. Bird 100. To thank nature, we all hugged a tree.

Georgia the tree hugger. Even a kiss. 

Shepard the tree hugger.

April 22, 2011 day list.

Brown Creeper (BIRD #100)
Tree Swallow (seen later in the day with my Dad)

April 24, 2011 day list

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Punk Rock Big Year

Paul Riss