Field Notes from the Past #5

Being a continuation of field-journal entries from the springs of 1962 and 1963 when I was a budding ornithologist of just 15 or 16 growing up in the rural village of Galien in Berrien County, Michigan.

April 12 [1963], Good Friday

Got out of school at 11:30 A.M. and went bird-watching in the afternoon. The first Brown Thrasher of the year was seen, a singing male. I added the Common [=Wilson's] Snipe and the Pied-billed Grebe to my life list bringing it to a total of 110 species. I believe I have seen the Common Snipe before but misidentified [it] as a [American] Woodcock, a similar species. Because of this, my records of the Woodcock should not be recognized as accurate.