Howdy All! It's 1999 and yes, I'm feeling just a little empty. The Big Year is over, but the memories still linger. I finished the year with 715 and regrettably, did not get Snowy Owl. Amazing. I simply could not bring myself to buy a ticket to Nova Scotia or Vancouver for a Snowy Owl, although I would have had a remote chance to get Dovekie in Nova Scotia. Although I know of several places that "always" get the owls, I was unsure in this warmer-than-normal year and heard no reports of birds seen more than a single day or two. It was a year full of surprises, hardships, thrills, heartaches, lots of learning, meeting great people, and traveling to fun places. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I went home after work on Wednesday, Dec 23 and checked the internet for Snowy Owls, weather, and flights to Cleveland. I wanted to be home for Christmas at least. There were no Snowies, but a big front was gonna hit Maryland in the evening and drop snow and/or freezing rain. Not wanting to deal with these weather complications even though I was exhausted, I checked on flights for that evening. Only two left, one at 8:00 pm and one at 10:00 pm. It was already 6:30 pm and I'd never make the 8 o'clock flight, so I booked the 10 o'clock flight from Baltimore to Cleveland. Half an hour later, my bags were packed as I walked through newly falling snow to my truck. The front was here. I hoped I could make it time for my flight. It was the last flight out to Cleveland. If it was canceled, I'd be stuck in Baltimore for the night. Oh, well. Worse has happened before. Thanks to the wonders of holiday travel coupled with nasty weather conditions, I finally arrived in Cleveland at 3:00 am. My patient brother, Ned, had been waiting at the Cleveland airport since 11:00 pm. We piled into his pickup and drove back to his house, arriving at 4:30 am totally wiped out. My father and I drove to Mt. Hope, Ohio in the afternoon to meet my uncle Jim Miller and his son Kent. We struck out on getting the Northern Shrike which had been regular for the last few days. It would have been a new county bird for me. We then drove over to a feeder frequented by a Harris' Sparrow. Here, we had much better luck. This large, handsome sparrow sported a black crown, a black throat and upper chest, and white face and underparts with a brown streaked back. It was a gorgeous bird and also a county first for me. My head was full, I had a nagging cough, and a sore throat. I didn't think much of it. It hadn't stopped me before. Christmas was a pleasant and relaxing day with my parents and my brothers, but instead of getting better, my condition worsened. I met my birding cousin Kent Miller in Hartville, Ohio about 7:15 am on Saturday morning. My throat was raspy and I was tired, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary to me. We loaded up Kent's car and he drove up to Lake Erie. Our first stop was Headland's Beach State Park, northeast of Cleveland. It was a warmer than normal day, but still blustery nonetheless. We bundled up and headed out to the breakwall. There were thousands of gulls present. Most were Ring-billed and Herring close by with a few Great Black-backs. Out further was a stream of smaller gulls with striking white wing patches, Bonaparte's Gulls, that extended farther than the eye could see. All three species of Mergansers were present. I finally found a second winter plumaged Lesser Black-backed Gull. It seemed like a lot of work for such a little return. On the other side of the breakwall, however, was the bird du jour--three Purple Sandpipers. These medium-sized, purplish gray sandpipers of the North Atlantic are unusual visitors to the Great Lakes. This was a new state bird for me. We continued in a westerly direction, stopping at East 72nd street. The road was closed and the fierce, greenish-gray waves of the Lake came crashing into the breakwall and the spray was freezing over everything. I finally got to meet Nick Barbour, a 16-year-old with a nationwide reputation already. It is always inspiring to see such youthful enthusiasm and energy focused on something as wonderful as birding. We found nothing new and slipped and slid across the ice-covered ground back to our vehicles. Kent pulled over several times as we scanned the grounds at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland. This is where I saw my life Snowy Owl nearly 20 years ago. Alas, there were no owls today. Good numbers of ducks remained on the open water. We continued on to Lorain, west of Cleveland. This is the location with far and away the greatest number of gulls. Tens of thousands of gulls were present. An immature Little Gull had been reported previously, but we found none today. Kent finally picked out a first year Thayer's Gull. It was a consolation prize, though. Back in the 80's, with this many gulls, we might have turned up several Littles and Lesser Black-backeds, Glaucous, and Thayer's. We headed down to Akron to a location where Merlins roosted. We arrived at 5:00 pm in the general area. At the second street we passed, I found one perched in a tree right beside the road. Wow. What a treat! Rather than stick around though, we headed home. Both of us were tired and cold from being up on the Lake. On the drive home, I couldn't get warm enough. I felt chilled to the bone. I woke up Sunday morning with almost no voice and searing pain in my throat. My ears were so clogged that I felt like I was in a pine forest with snow on the ground and all the sound is muffled and faint. I had all the energy of a limp noodle. I rested most of the day, wondering what I should do. I was so tired that I couldn't make up my mind. Finally, in the evening I called the airlines and arranged to fly back to Baltimore on the morning of the 4th instead of the 28th. I didn't feel like birding, let alone working. I called in sick Monday and went to see a doctor in Ohio on Tuesday as I wasn't seeing any improvement. I was worried I wouldn't be able to go after any more birds for the year without risking paying physically in January for being stupid in December. I got a good report from the doctor, along with some much needed antibiotics. I had a sinus infection with inflamed throat and ears. My sister and brother-in-law and my three nephews arrived Sunday evening for our family Christmas. We all had a great time. I found out that the nephews were hacking and coughing, too. We shared coughing fits. What comraderie. Yeah. Right. I rested all week and recuperated slowly while watching the internet sporadically from Jack Siler's web page. On the morning of the 31st, I found a message on MDOsprey: Attention Greg - Black-tailed Gull back at CBBT in Virginia. Yowwww! I looked at the time. 9:00 am. I was sans vehicle. It would take at least half an hour to get picked up, another hour and a half or two to get to the airport... By my calculations I would be racing darkness by the time I got to location for Black-tailed Gull. I just didn't have it in me. I was still too "sloogey". I talked to birding friend, Bruce Glick, at 9:00 pm that evening. He reminded me that I only had 3 hours left to tick any more birds. Sigh. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. We made plans to meet early in the morning of the 1st. Time to start a new year. I picked up two birders, Ed Schlabach and Jonathan Kline on Friday morning. We drove over to Mt. Hope to the Harris' Sparrow haunts. By 8:00 am, there were maybe 40 other birders there, anxious to start their new year list with Harris' Sparrow. Eastern Bluebirds visited the feeder as did a beautiful male Purple Finch. The dazzling rasberry colored bird stole the show. By 10:00 am and still without the sparrow, our group of 14 left and headed over to the other side of town to try for the Northern Shrike. We whiffed on that, too, but did find a Rough-legged Hawk and a Red-headed Woodpecker. It was extremely cold, with temps in the single digits, but fortunately, there was not much wind. We headed north to Wooster and stopped at the Research Center where I picked up a Black-capped Chickadee, a bird not found in Southern Maryland. Also of note was a partially albino robin that made my heart skip a beat. The albino coloration was on the eyebrow and crown. The eyebrow was so striking that it made me think for a second of a couple good Attu birds <grin>. We headed up to Lorain to scan the gulls. Again, there were tens of thousands of gulls. I found a single third winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. Unfortunately, it was the only gull of note there. East to Avon Lake, we hiked out to the fence. It had gotten noticeably colder and the wind blew through our clothes. My toes were starting to feel numb. But here, Kent Miller found the first Glaucous Gull (first winter) and Bruce Glick found a second one (also first year). Ed Schlabach's sharp eyes picked out a single Purple Sandpiper on the breakwall. It was a delight to all of us. On January 2, we had a significant winter storm hit Ohio. I got snowed/iced in at my parents house and ended up sleeping on the floor (it sure beat being stuck in near blizzard conditions). I checked the weather. More snow was predicted for Sunday night and Monday. I decided to change my flight plans again from Monday morning to Sunday evening. Thanks again to holiday travel and nasty weather, I got home at 1:30 am. I had 400 email messages waiting for me. By 3:00 am, my lightning fast mind realized that the Dream Year was over and I didn't *HAVE* to sift through all my messages this morning. I happily fell in to bed, deliriously tired, and happy to be home...finally. I thought to myself what a "normal" schedule might be like. That thought was interrupted by memories of my Attu trip dancing before my eyes, and Gambell, Alaska, North Dakota, Yellowstone National Park, and Arizona "Sky Islands", and South Texas specialties, and Pacific seabirding, and the Florida Everglades, whew! zzzzzzzzzz (this is a whole lot more rewarding than counting sheep <grin>) -Greg Miller Lusby, Maryland