Lifer in the Middle of Bio Lab

Today while I was in the woods on campus working on a group project for Field Biology with a couple of my classmates, I suddenly saw a Pileated Woodpecker fly to a nearby tree and land there. I freaked out--"oh my god, guys, come here, come here! I can't believe this, it's a Pileated Woodpecker....come here, guys! No, really, I want to show this to you, it's a really cool bird." I've been wanting to see one for a little while now, and I honestly can't believe that I saw one on campus while technically in-class. My classmates weren't as enthused as I was, and I don't blame them a bit. If I were hanging out with a geologist and he started excitedly pointing out kinds of rocks, I wouldn't really care. *shrug* Just not my thing.

Unfortunately, no pictures of the bird since I didn't have my camera on me, and it also flew away while I was trying to get my classmates to look up at the tree where it was. Oh well.

Despite the weather predictions for the day, I raced against the rain and tried to get in a little birding. Then, even when it did start to rain, I just went back to my apartment to re-outfit myself: plastic bag and a solo cup with the bottom cut out to protect my camera against the rain. This provided more proof that I have no inclination whatsoever toward engineering, but it kind of worked. I only needed it to work for a little while, anyway. I'm glad I went out (to Mendon Ponds) because I saw lots of sparrows and Yellow Warblers. I can now check White-crowned Sparrow off of my life list. I also saw Yellow-rumped Warblers, Brown Thrashers, and Chipping Sparrows.
I'm not sure if I'd call this a lifer or not--I can't remember if I've seen a Field Sparrow before and somehow forgot to check it off my list, or if I really haven't seen one until today. In any case, I got very close views of a couple of them today.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.