Those of us of a certain age remember a 1970s sitcom called “The Odd Couple.”   The show was based upon the hit 1965 hit Neil Simon movie of the same name.   The show’s opening credits are still classic.

Ingrid and I haven’t been doing a lot of birding recently as we plan for our 2024 Big Year.  Yesterday we spent most of the day making plane and hotel reservations, talking to guides and studying migration data.

We’ve also did some reminiscing of  the “Odd Couple” birds we saw in 2023.   At the top of this post there is a video of a Summer Tanager that visited our feeder in April.  Alongside is a pair of Pine Siskins.  It is dubious that these two birds from the north and south have ever been on a Maine eBird checklist together.

Below is a photo taken by Ingrid of a couple of odd Maine birds.  Taken at Scarborough Marsh in May, she got an incredibly rare Black-neck Stilt next to an uncommon Wilson’s Phalarope.

While on the subject of Phalaropes, I photographed Red-necked Phalaropes and Red Phalaropes together, in breeding plumage next to a parking lot in Cape Elizabeth.  One might possibly see these two birds together at a distance out at sea . . . but not close to land . . . and certainly not in the Spring.  Odd!

And finally, a rare Hoary Redpoll associating with its more common cousin . . . the Common Redpoll, in Belfast.  Not particularly odd . . . but a nice couple.

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