Sharing Birding Contest First Place Winner
I stared at the birding contest announcement. Ideas began to roll through my mind. That’s it! My younger brother and sister had been asking me to take them on a birding trip and teach them how to do it and end up with a decent list. I knew this was my opportunity.
At the suggestion, they were elated. We picked our day and began planning. However the day came, we would take it. As it turned out, we were going to spend most the day traveling. Why not make the day exciting!?! We decided we would end our day at a birding hotspot in hopes of peaking our list.
“How do you find them? Just watch them fly up to the feeder, or what?”
“That certainly can work,” I told them, “but we’ll learn as we go along! For starters, listen, follow the song, and look for movement.”
“But how do you do it when you travel?”
“I guess you don’t exactly. Carefully scan the sky, trees, grass, bodies of water, phone lines, roadsides, and old barns. Really, have your eyes completely roving all your surroundings at all times.”
This we did as we snacked on cookies and chattered.
“There’s a bird!” Kyrianne shrieked, tapping her finger against the window. All heads turned to see, but, to our disappointment, it was gone.
“What kind was it?” Joseph asked.
“Not sure. All I know is it was kinda brownish. I guess I’m not able to glance at a bird and just know what species it is,” she concluded.
“Ah, yes, when you see a bird, if you can, look at it thoroughly through binoculars, or, better yet, take a photo. Look at its color, beak, wings, legs, eyes, and its body shape and size. Remember where it was—like up high in a tree, down in some brush, soaring, eating a dead animal, in a berry bush, or swimming in water,” I instructed.
“What if it’s flying?” Kyrianne questioned.
“If it’s flying, watch its flight patterns. Is it bobbing, flying straight, soaring? These things will all help you identify a bird as you get more acquainted with the bird world.”
“There’s a Black Vulture and two Turkey Vultures tearing into a roadkill. It seems those crows are getting their share as well,” Joseph announced.
As we pulled into a fuel station, I pointed out several Ring-billed Gulls in the nearby parking lot. They were perusing trash for food remnants. A mockingbird chimed every sound he could remember, in a bush at the McDonald’s next door.
Our list continued to grow as we drove. Canada Geese, Indigo Bunting, American Robins, Mourning Doves, Wild Turkeys, Red-shouldered Hawk, Great Blue Heron, and more. Before we knew it, we were at our destination for the day. We ejected from the car with invigorated spirits, ready to take the mile-long hike.
“Be quiet and don’t make quick movements,” I reminded.
Gear in hand, we set off. Soon we approached a pond and watched Barn Swallows skim the surface, a pair of Wood Ducks hunt for a closing meal, and a Green Heron do its best to hide in the reeds. Soon we moved on, adding more birds as we trailed our way.
“Gabriel, what bird is that?” Kyrianne asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard that one!” I responded. The call was a raspy scratching followed by a musical trill. It repeated it several times. We watched and listened, watched and listened. We crept closer to the sound.
“There it is!” Joseph gasped.
“Shhh. Move slowly,” I rehearsed. We studied it through our scope and binoculars. It was on a bough just above some tall grass. It bounced to another limb. Then off it flew.
What was that bird? We were perplexed. It had a black mask and wings with a very white cap, back, and belly. It seemed like there was maybe a tinge of gray speckles along its wing on its belly.
We searched our bird guide, but we could not find a fit. At home we studied our guides again—North America…Mexico…nothing. Finally we logged into my eBird account. We played sounds and looked at pictures. Our only match was the Finsch’s Wheatear.
“But they’re from the Arabian Peninsula! How does that work?” All sounds and descriptions matched perfectly.
Without answers to our questions, we excitedly reported it and sat down to write our story. We were amazed and thankful for such an extreme rarity!