This morning I decided to take a break from CNN, consume a little $4.29 a gallon gasoline and head for Greenland, New Hampshire.

A couple days ago, a Northern Lapwing had been seen in a Greenland cornfield.  The Lapwing is a common sight in Europe, browsing in meadows, mudflats and farmland.  Every couple years, one shows up on the east coast of the USA or Canada but I had never seen one.

I arrived at the cornfield about 7:00 am and there were already a dozen birders with their tripod scopes pointing into the field.  The Northern Lapwing was sleeping in a depression 200 yards away and wasn’t visible to the naked eye.

After 30 minutes of watching the sleeping bird and listening to birders tell war stories (i.e. “I saw a half dozen Woodcocks last night”), the Lapwing started to move through the cornstalks looking for food.

While he never got close enough for a high quality photo, the bird’s olive green back, cowlick and three black plumes were clearly visible.

I watched this “Life Bird” for another half hour as more and more birders from throughout New England continued to arrive.  At that point I decided to head home and open up some valued roadside Lapwing viewing real estate.