An Uptown Vireo
Not a bad day.
We have a friend who had some Bell's Vireos nailed down. This
was a bird that we really wanted to get. Unfortunately, we were
not able to go on his field trip last weekend to see them. I
placed a plaintive call last night to see if maybe, kinda sorta,
perhaps he could take us out. Well, being the remarkable chap
that he is, he agreed.
We met at 7am and went to the brushy area where he has been
seeing them regularly. First we heard the song (which we had
down thanks to several playings of Thayer last night) and then we
found the birds. At least 3 of them. And one of them gave us
a
long, if distant look while he was singing. Ka-ching!!
Next we drove around a little and came across a new little
Killdeer. This was the first time I had actually seen a baby so
that was a treat. Next we came across two new Spotted
Sandpipers! Now, I may be a championship curmudgeon, but these
little guys were seriously cute. They were walking round,
foraging, with their butts bobbing up and down
constantly...aaaaawwwwwwwww.
Our friend asked us what else we needed and we mentioned Upland
Sandpiper. "Ok, let's go". We drove over to a
field which has
historically held them and, after trying to find a frustrating
Grasshopper Sparrow, all of a sudden, flying over us was....an
Upland Sandpiper! We then heard the call and then, we heard the
"wolf whistle". Suddenly, we saw another one who landed
about
100 feet from us. So we got views in flight, landing and
standing as well as both vocalizations. We also realized we were
REAL close to the nest site, so we skidaddled.
Phew.
After that, we decided anymore would be shameless greed, so,
since it was too early to buy him the customary beer, he settled
for a couple of Breakfast Burritos at McDonald's.
I love it when I can make those asterisks appear in AviSys.
Jim Frazier
6/10/95
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