My (not-so-)little birder

Son1 has been interested in birds for a long time. He took the Cornell Lab of Ornithology home-study bird biology course back when he was 10 (it's a college-level course, incidentally).

Now that he's a junior in high school, he qualified to take classes at the Indiana University campus through their OPEN program. He would have liked to take a bird biology course, but we decided that he should take the introductory biology course which is the pre-requisite to any higher level biology course.

In addition, he's been posting sightings regularly to both the local bird e-list and the Indiana birds e-list. He sounds so mature, yet cute, in those postings. Makes a mother proud. :)

Son1 took this photo of a Cape May Warbler

Here's a sample posting that he made on September 26th:

Hello all,


This morning I birded our property, hoping that yesterday evening's storm(s) would bring in some new things.  The morning started slowly with only an Ovenbird and Magnolia Warblers, but at the very end of my walk I happened upon a medium-sized flock of other warblers that provided some additional diversity.

Unfortunately, due to the wind and glare, many flyover birds went unidentified - along with a cardinalid tanager that may have been Scarlet.

One of the supposed Rose-breasted Grosbeaks stayed in one place eating Eleagnus fruit for a long time, and I was able to observe it for longer than usual.  That particular individual showed many characters I associate instead with Black-headed Grosbeak - strong salmon-colored wash up to the "collar", and a bill much darker than I've seen previously on Rose-breasteds.


Turkey Vulture - 7 (off-property, roosting in an American Sycamore)
Cooper's Hawk - 2 (apparent pair - 1 male, 1 female)
American Kestrel - 1 (female)
Chimney Swift - 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 2
Willow Flycatcher - 1 (no eye-ring noted; did not call; seen eating Common Buckeye)
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Blue Jay - ~
American Crow - 7
Carolina Chickadee - ~
Tufted Titmouse - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Carolina Wren - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Swainson's Thrush - 1
American Robin - 1
Gray Catbird - 2
Brown Thrasher - 1 (heard only)
European Starling - ~
Ovenbird - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 5
Nashville Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 5
Blackpoll Warbler - 1
Bay-breasted Warbler - 2 (first property record)
Magnolia Warbler - 5
Black-throated Green Warbler - 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1
Palm Warbler - 4
Eastern Towhee - 1
Field Sparrow - 9
Song Sparrow - ~ (not especially numerous but not counted)
Piranga sp. -  1 (identified to genus by shape; possibly P. olivacea but color not seen well)
Northern Cardinal - ~
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 5 (all assumed to be this species; see above)
Indigo Bunting - ~ (heard only)
Red-winged Blackbird - 8
Eastern Meadowlark - 1 (heard only, singing)
American Goldfinch - ~
House Sparrow - ~


While I was out, my mother saw a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH at our feeder, a first for our property.  When I returned, Red-eyed Vireos were still around, but I had to wait a while before the RBNU showed up again.


Red-eyed Vireo - 2
Carolina Chickadee - ~
Tufted Titmouse - ~
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 3


He was also invited by his biology prof and local birders to participate in the recent Big Sit. Unfortunately, the weather was awful, but he got to hang out with adults who share his keen interest.

Do you or your kids have a passion that have lasted a long time, or that led you to your profession? Mine was astrophysics...until I discovered that I kind of sucked at higher level physics and any math up to and beyond Diff Eq. *sigh*

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Repairs are done!

**Post updated to include the good news that Son1 is now enrolled into the Biol 111 class at Indiana University through their OPEN program for high-achieving high school students in the area (big thanks to Kathy for telling us about it). I think he's pretty excited about it. The session he chose is with a prof who is an ornithology expert and a very nice lady to boot. I think it'll be a great experience for him overall in terms of being more independent and developing better study habit.

And now back to the scheduled post...

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Our drywall developed cracks in them over the 13 years that we've lived in this house. Most of our house is pretty well-built but there are certain things that didn't hold up as well as others.

Because we're not skilled at drywall and hubby is too busy (and stressed) at work right now to spend time making house repairs, we hired Robin's husband, who is a drywall expert, to do it for us.

He did a terrific job...including repainting the walls...and then the tedious task of having to put everything back faced us.

Hubby and Son1 putting a mirror back up in the living room

Curiously, it takes several times as long to put things back than it does to take things down and toss in a heap somewhere. Funny that.

Have you done some house renovations or repairs lately? Did you do it yourself?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams