Mokka mit Schlag » 2007 » July

American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis, ♂
Northerly Island, Chicago, 2007-07-27

Black and Yellow Mud Dauber, Sceliphron caementarium
Outside Soldier Field, Chicago, 2007-07-25

Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis
Chicago lakefront. 2007-07-25

Last night after the conference was over for the day, I went for a stroll along Lake Michigan from north of Soldier field to the 31st Street beach. It was not an especially birdy location, too little habitat, too many boats, cars, and lawns. It’s supposed to be better in winter and migration. Still I got 13 species, all new for me in the state:

• Canada Goose
• Mallard
• American Kestrel
• Ring-billed Gull
• Rock Pigeon
• Chimney Swift
• American Crow
• Barn Swallow
• European Starling
• Cedar Waxwing
• Common Grackle
• American Goldfinch
• House Sparrow

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Sachem Skipper, Atalopedes campestris
Ridgewood Reservoir, 2007-07-14
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Last night at the beginning of class, my TiBook couldn’t wake the screen up from sleep, though strangely the cursor was visible, and responded to the trackpad. However nothing else would. I had to force reboot with the power button.

When the computer came back up, all my preferences had reverted to their defaults. There was also a mysterious “Safe Preferences” folder in my ~/Library folder. However it only held a couple of Apple preferences. Deleting it did not restore my original prefs, and near as I can tell they weren’t saved anywhere when the TiBook reverted to defaults. Naturally this happened immediately before I’m leaving for a three-day trip when I still haven’t packed.
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