First week done

Well, finished up my first week of bird surveys. The weather was scorching hot and dry, but I had a nice campsite in the shade right on the shore of Lake Ontario. As soon as I got out of the car at the first site (6:00am), there were hundreds of New Jersey's state bird everywhere...mosquitoes!! As I waded through the waist high grass, it raised their ire and they attached themselves to any exposed part of my body. I got stung on the palm of my hand a couple of times!!! What a way to start the day. Overall, it was a good day of observations. We saw a fair amount of the target birds we were looking for, and got done before the sun got too high and made life miserable. On the way back to camp, my partner and I (Dan), stopped at a little diner advertising home cooking. There were at least ten cars parked out front of this little place, so I thought this must be some good food to have all of these people here. From the outside it looked pretty busy for 9:30 am on a Wednesday. So we walked inside and there were ten people in there. Everyone must've drove themselves. The "host" brought us some much needed coffee, and warned us that the church group got here before us so it may take a minute or two longer to get our food. I assured her it was not a prob, "we're on the clock anyways." After slamming a cup of coffee and washing up a bit, the waiter/cook/cashier/owner came over and took our order. $3.99 for 2 eggs, homefries, toast and bacon. What a bargain!!! The church group, which was nothing more than a group of retired folks, got their food and ate. Our's was ready within ten minutes of ordering, and it was delicious. Really hit the spot, and was well worth the extra "minute or two." So if your ever in Barker, NY stop by Hanks Diner on Rte. 18 and check out the breakfast special. If you're in a hurry, pray that you beat the church group there.