Kingbird mania

Are there more eastern kingbirds than usual here in the Midwest this summer? I'm not sure, but I have seen a lot in the past week or so. The flycatchers were present at Montrose Harbor last Saturday, at Marovitz Golf Course Sunday, near Skokie Lagoons on the bus ride to Minnesota yesterday and at several points in Wisconsin on said bus ride. This is a common sentiment among birders: is such and such bird around more this year. But right now, I'm thinking that about the pugnacious eastern kingbird which is adroit at mobbing raptors three times its size.

On another note, I passed over the bloated Crawfish and Rock Rivers on I-94 in southeastern Wisconsin yesterday. Both were lapping at the underside of the interstate bridge. I'm not sure what else to say about the great Midwestern floods of 2008 other than to build on high ground and not in floodplains--stating the obvious I suppose.