Pole frozen solid off Lake Shore Drive

Today there were some posts on the lists about Snow and Ross’s Geese on the Chicago lakefront. Though we got a late start (Pole’s fault), we decided to check them out. We went to Chicago’s Montrose Harbor, which is the location of the Magic Hedge, probably the best place to bird within 100 miles, though we haven’t been there yet this year. We saw some white geese from Lake Shore Drive as we drove in from the south, so we parked near the entrance and make a trek to their location.

They were on the golf course, so we had to watch them through the fence. We saw the SNOW GEESE right away, along with plenty of Canada Geese. We also saw a couple of blue morphs, including an immature. Then I saw the ROSS’S GEESE. They’re small and don’t have the weird black lip the Snow Geese do. We both had a good, long look at them through the scope, and then we had to leave. Because it was FREEZING!

It was about 11°F, and with the wind from the lake, we were dying. Though the birds were beautiful, I had a hard time focusing the scope because my fingers were bunched up in the palms of my gloves. We hauled ass back to the car, where we sat awhile and defrosted. Pole said her face felt like a frozen mask. Then we drove further into the harbor and parked by the Magic Hedge. It was obvious that neither of us wanted to get out of the car again, but neither of us wanted to be responsible for the decision, either. We circled each other verbally for a while, and I escape a few simple traps set by Pole, but eventually, we both agreed to get the hell out and get some warm food.

But it was a nice little surgical strike. And the Ross was a lifer twice over.