Having a job sucks. But money = good, so not having a job sucks even worse. Basically, then, suckage is all that’s on the menu.

I’m getting philosophical here because having a job really cuts into my birding time. That means my Little Year just gets littler and littler. I’m hopeful it won’t be littler when it’s lighter, because then I can do a little birding after work. Going out before work isn’t likely. I’m pretty damn lazy and like my sleep. The point of all my whining is that I didn’t see squat all week. Pole was lucky and stumbled upon a MOURNING DOVE last Monday. It’s only a week into our Little Year and she’s already ahead of me. Oh, well. She usually wins at everything, and I’m resigned to it.

I was looking to catch up on the weekend, but Saturday was shot because of family obligations, so Sunday was birding day. We decided to hunt down the saw-whet owl at the Morton Arboretum, but it wasn’t there. In fact, there was hardly anything there. We did see a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH on top of a tree AHNK-AHNKing its ass off, but there were hardly any other birds. I felt like Omega Man.

Actually, we kind of hate the Arborteum because we never have any luck there. It’s always Silent Spring or Silent Summer or — you finish the joke. A lot of birders like the place, so the problem may be that we’re just lousy birders.

Most exciting thing was when I spilled some orange juice on Pole’s Swarovskis. Tense moment there, folks, but it was only a few drops, so I was able to handle it.

To continue. We heard there was a snowy owl at Waukegan Harbor, which is on the lakefront north of Chicago near the Wisconsin border. We didn’t see it, of course — remember, we’re lousy birders — though we ran into some guy who saw it in the morning. Did see a lot of waterfowl:

LESSER SCAUP
HOODED MERGANSER
AMERICAN COOT
BUFFLEHEAD
GADWALL
RING-BILLED GULL
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT
REDHEAD
COMMON GOLDENEYE

By the time we got home we we’re pretty exhausted, but then I noticed an posting on IBET (the Illinois birding list) that said there was a LONG-EARED OWL in Evanston (where I live), and less than a mile away. It was in a tree next to Mount Trashmore, which is the name given to a landfill hill that kids use for winter sledding. The poster was kind enough to ram some red cardboard into a fence next to the bird, so we found it right away. It was wide awake and staring at us, though it didn’t stretch its body out into the freaky caricature as it sometime does. I’m sure it wanted to sleep, but us pesky birders just wouldn’t let it alone. The bird made our day, because it’s a lifer for both of us.

It’s amazing how anybody located the bird, or even thought to look there. We would have had a hell of a time finding it without that red marker. I wonder if it’s known to hang out there? I never heard of it, but that doesn’t mean much because, you know, I’m lousy.

Miscellaneous catches: A flock of EUROPEAN STARLINGS and some HOUSE SPARROWS.