Half Century

I raised my scope to the birding gods today as I reached a fine landmark, a half century of raptors. After racing through the 30s courtesy of some loose long hops from the medium pace of Thailand, some tight bowling from the European swing quartet of Spain, Sweden, Turkey and France had kept me in the early 40s for quite a while. Some observers questioned whether I had the mental capacity to reach the half century, but as Mexico came into the attack with her lazy leg spin, it became only a matter of time.

A cover drive for 4 in Veracruz (Aplomado Falcon, Broad-winged Hawk, Black Vulture, Roadside Hawk) took me to 49, and then I ran a quick single at La Presa today (White-tailed Hawk) to reach the milestone.

It's been a fairly quick innings thus far. To reach the century would mean decades more of hard graft, and as the pitch enters its 60th - 70th years, cracks will deteriorate and scoring will become particularly tricky!