Kay and I have now been on the road for 3 nights and 4 days, and have come about 1/3 of the way across the U.S.  It has been largely a city trip so far, but we have managed a  little bit of birding.  The first day we just put miles behind us, travelling from Oakland, ME where we left behind camp, my  brother Bill and his family, and many memories of Dad.  We got up very early and got past ME and Boston before traffic no Sunday, and drove across MA and NY to Buffalo.  Got in late and crashed  Monday we learned that all of the Buffalo museums are closed on Mondays, so we took a river boat ride on the Buffalo River, really a dredged out creek made into a waterway where prior to the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1957 had been a booming grain transfer location from the Great Lakes to the Erie Canal.  We walked around a bit and then headed for Cleveland

In Cleveland we visited the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Arboretum, Kay saw the Cleveland Museum of Art while I napped under a huge Oak tree, and then we headed for Magee Marsh  We got to Magee Marsh on the shore of Lake Erie Tuesday evening, cased the place with plans to return at daybreak.  It was very hot and pretty quiet, but we saw 38 species and avoided getting lost.

This morning we returned at daybreak and thought it was even less birdy than the evening before, but we did manage to find 6 warbler species, Canada, Chestnut-sided (first fall type), Black-throated blue (female), N Waterthrush, Black-and-white and Magnolia.  Target for me was Yell0w-bellied flycatcher, but this lifer-not-to-be did not show itself.

From the marsh we headed towards St. Louis, and are staying 90 minutes from Horseshoe Lake County Park, IL where we hope to find Eurasian Tree Sparrow in the morning.

Wish us luck.