The joy and the heartache

Probably the most difficult battle to stomach in my current yard is the juxtaposition of the knowledge that many of the awesome birds present on Whitefish Lake are not likely to be scored from my yard, simply because they don't often (ever?) enter the sliver of the lake I can view. Plus, many of these species drop in on the lake very briefly then leave. Trick is, since I can't see the middle of the lake without driving over there, I never know if they're still actually on the lake as I sit in my yard hoping and waiting. So is the solution to continue standing there, or to keep driving over to the lake to make sure the bird is still there?

Case in point: on my way out of town I stopped by the lake yesterday around 5PM, and found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RZUC0lIX8Y&feature=youtu.be

(this is the first time I've ever seen a Sterna on the water, and man do they look weird!). Problem in this case was I could not return to my yard as I had to leave town for a talk I was giving. OUCH. I did watch the bird forage for a while to see if it went into my bay, and it did not. The FOTE is no longer present this morning, but it has been replaced by 3 BOGU, 3 PUMA, and many GRSC, & 2 HOGR, all of which would be life yardbirds. Of course, there are at least 420 RUDU too, another yard lifer, but they are all on the extreme north end of the lake and never enter my bay. Finally, I had a flock of 20 DCCO out there last week which would also be a yard lifer.

Anyway, one can imagine I will likely be fighting this battle a lot over the next month, with left fielders like CATE, BLTE, scoters?, HOGR, and who knows what else. The joy and the agony...