Working the VIS

I was on the road by 7:30 this morning headed for the VIS. Naturally, since it was a work day, the sun was shining and the temperature was slowly rising. I opened the building, started brewing the free coffee, put out the banner and waited for the crowds to arrive. OK, I knew there weren't going to be hordes of people, but I didn't think I'd have to wait two hours for anyone to show up. After the miserably wet week, I thought the birders would be arriving early on such a gorgeous day. I was wrong.

So, there was not much to do except go outside with my camera and see if I could find that vermilion flycatcher. ;)


Right in back of the temporary VIS is a small pond (the one that had all the frogs wiped out by hurricane Ike). Those black dots in the sky are starlings...ugh. It's a pretty little pond and the flycatcher likes to hang out around it.

Eventually, the little dude showed up. This shot is better than the last one I took, but I'm still not satisfied. Of course, each time I got the camera set up, he decided to flit off to some other perch in his search for insects on the wing. I'm not giving up yet. I've got about six weeks left to get a better shot.

By the end of the day, the grand total of folks that stopped in the VIS was 19, and I had $34 worth of sales. Not exactly the big time, but it sure beats being skunked all day like I was at Swan Lake NWR in Missouri last summer. I always enjoy talking with the visitors, and I had two fellows that were repeats from last weekend. One is an English chap who kindly noticed that I wasn't Colin. :) The other was a fellow from about eighty miles away that has never been out of the state of Texas. He was astounded to learn that I drive my rig by myself and travel around the country alone. I told him I am one of many, but he just couldn't believe that a good looking, bright woman (his words) like me would travel alone. He should have stopped there with the flattering comments, but he didn't. He went on to say...surely, there's some old geezer out there with the same interests that you could hook up with! Oh boy! I reminded myself that he was a visitor and remained pleasant. I'm sure he'll be back with more words of wisdom in the future.

Just another day in the VIS...

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy