We pass a couple of milestones and learn to live with disappointment

(In which are recorded the adventures and misadventures of Christopher, his wife Fran, brother Phil and sister-in-law Susan as they pursue a birding Big Year, working together because it’s the only chance they have of making a decent showing.)

Number 53 on the Big Year list, a Northern Flicker somehow got into this photo of the dog’s ear.

At last, we’ve broken the 50-species barrier. Of course, ordinarily we’d think 50 species was a good single-day birding list. But we won’t quibble. It has been damned cold around here, and we’re not that young – or, speaking for myself, that tough.

Phil and I visited Wyandotte County Lake on the Kansas side of the Missouri/Kansas line last Sunday. There was enough open water to support thousands of ducks, Canada Geese and Snow Geese, as well as some swans. Our primary purpose for visiting the lake was a report of Tundra Swans. We didn’t see any.

But we did pick up Trumpeter Swans, Common Goldeneyes, a lone American Wigeon, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Eastern Bluebirds, Ring-necked Ducks, and an American Kestrel. Also about 10 fat, happy Bald Eagles enjoying the buffet.

I think the eagles get a kick out of just soaring over the ducks and geese to see what kind of response they get. The geese let out a crescendo of honking that begins at one end of the flock and passes like a wave to the other end as the big raptor passes. The ducks raise a ruckus and take flight, though not for long. For them and the geese, it must be like living in perpetual fear of the playground bully.

Speaking of feeling persecuted, Phil celebrated a birthday on January 16. I won’t say which one. As a gift, he got yet another bird feeder for the already vast and growing collection that attracts some pretty interesting species to his and Susan’s backyard, including White-throated Sparrows, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (good grief, who thinks up these names) and others.

I figure keeping him in bird feeders is a good investment. It means we can go on adding to the Big Year list from the comfort of his family room while we watch the University of Kansas basketball team rule the Big 12 (although there are only 10 schools in the conference; go figure).

I don’t want to talk about KU football, so I lovingly invite readers to keep any comments about it to themselves.