Cash League

 

That's me in the middle (red shirt) playing racquetball again. I thought I was done but a year and a half out from my hip surgery, I am playing again. Not playing great but on occasion I play with a bit of the old (and very weak) magic, LOL. The cash league gives you about 2 hours of intense racquetball in singles play on Saturday mornings. I much prefer doubles nowadays but it is fun to play singles again. Started at the very bottom, scoring 2-5 points a game to now, two months later, occasionally taking a game and I did win the league one week. Still not playing consistently but my improvement is continuing. Fun to be back again. Racquetball is still mostly dead and probably dies with us old-timers but there are small pockets still playing here and there. The pro tour is also surprisingly doing pretty well, from what I hear, but always at frustratingly low levels for a sport that should be much more popular. Fun times are back. 

Last new bird of 2025???

 

Still might get a few more birds this year, but this might be the last lifer for 2025. Went to downtown Chicago this past weekend, before the temps dropped and based on reports of this bird being seen at the entrance of Montrose Harbor, I got a new bird--a Long-tailed Duck. According to my research, it is not unusual to see this bird on occasion this time of year in Chicago. Prior to falling into this hobby as an extension of my photography, I can't recall if I had ever heard of a long-tailed duck. Now, I have actually seen one in Chicago, on the lakefront, in the winter, right at Montrose Harbor, where it has been hanging out for the past few days. Who knew? Species number 445 and that makes 80 new species for 2025. What a year!!!

Another batch of wonderful birds....

 

A mixed bag of birds in this third grouping of birds seen over the course of 2025. The Cassin's Kingbird and the Cinnamon Teal were seen in southern California and the other three, the Mexican Mallard, the Greater Roadrunner and the Pyrrhuloxia, a sort of cardinal-like bird, were all found in and around Laredo, Texas, while I was at the Laredo Birding Festival. 

Some more new birds for 2025

 

This group of birds, which were lifers to me in 2025, came from a trip to southern California in January. They are all fairly common birds but you have to be in the right spot at the right time of the year to see them. That is how it is with most birds. The Spotted Towhee was in a parking lot as I was leaving another birding area. You never know what you will see when you go looking.  

New Birds seen in 2025

 

Had a great year birding in 2025. Found 86 new birds this year, pushing my life list to 444 birds. Got new birds near home here in Illinois and on road trips to 5 different states. This group of 4 lifers shown here include two from southern California, which I saw early this year (the Bewick's Wren and the Back-tailed Gnatcher) and two from Illinois, including a beautiful Snowy Owl seen in Lockport and the Common Goldeneye seen in the Illinois Canal last January in Darien. Sometimes you have to go far and wide to get a bird. Sometimes, they are more local.  It is getting harder and harder to book new birds but there are still lots of local birds that I haven't seen. The Lapland Longspur comes to town every winter and is one I might get this year. The winter wren as well. Those two are on my target list. You also have to go far and wide to get new birds and next year I have a trip lined up to Alaska, which should net me a boatload of new birds. Anyway, here are the first 4 of 86 birds that I will show over the next few weeks. Enjoy!

Sometimes when birding.....

 

.....you see other things as well. I was with a group of fellow birders as a white-tailed deer stopped to check us out. Yes, even the animals think birders are weird.... 

Lone Cooper's

 

Been a bit since I have posted. Sorry about that. Been taking a lot of bird photos. Didn't want to bore non-birders. This one has a bit of an artistic style to it, so I thought I would post it here. That's a lone Cooper's Hawk in the morning fog. This one had that misty feel to it. Enjoy the coming holiday season.