Ingrid and I just spent a three day weekend on Cape Cod . . . not planning to bird all that much . . . but enjoy some together time; good food and some shopping.
That said . . . we spent all day on Saturday birding . . . we just couldn’t help it.
The highlight sighting was a group of juvenile Horned Lark. We spent 20 minutes watching them feed on the beach trying to figure out what they were. Mainly because a juvenile Horned Lark looks very much like an American Pipit . . . a bird that has no business being in Massachusetts in late June.
Other Birds:
As we were having dinner on Saturday, we saw an e-Bird Rare Bird Alert come through. A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher a Texas/Oklahoma bird was being see in Brunswick, Maine . . . 20 minutes from home . . . we were 4 and a half hours away.
So this morning we rushed around (Ingrid ran 5 miles at 6:00 am), had a final breakfast at our B&B and headed north seeking the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
Naturally, upon arrival in Brunswick, a powerful thunderstorm swept through, pushing birds undercover and keeping the group of birders who arrived after me in their cars.
After 15 minutes, the storm ended and the birders exchanged phone numbers and we headed in different directions looking for the Flycatcher. Two minutes later I got a text “Got it” . . . the bird was now sitting exactly where I had initially parked during the rain.
Spent 15 minutes photographing this bird from a distance . . . didn’t want to spook this rare find.