Home, and Another Year Bird

Dec 8 

Sometime along my flights home, a message came in from Troy that he'd just had some Mountain Plovers in West Texas. That was the cue I was waiting for- they should be in the RGV too! I got home immediately unpacked, did my laundry, and repacked. This has been my life now - forever on the go, never knowing when I may need to leave by car or plane at a moment's notice! 

Dec 9 

I'd said a few weeks ago that I was done guiding for the year, but scheduling worked out to guide Rebecca from Connecticut for one day. My plan was to go looking for Mountain Plovers north of Harlingen after we parted ways, but local birder Mary Beth found them about 30 minutes northwest of my house, instead. It was getting late in the day, and I'd decided I'd just wait until morning to go looking for them. 

Dec 10 

Up early, yet again, to be out around sunrise. I had drinks and snacks with me, prepared to spend as many hours as it would take to find Mountain Plovers in the vast expanse of bare, freshly plowed fields in McCook, Texas. 

To my great surprise, it took less than 30 minutes for me to pick them out of a distant field with my binoculars; though it took getting a scope on them to confirm the ID 100%. 

I messaged Jessica and Paul, who were just up the road and had started looking from the opposite end. They came to meet me, and we enjoyed the Mountain Plovers for a while, counting at least 21, before they headed off for more birding, and I  headed home. 

I napped on and off through most of the rest of the day, enjoying every second of the stillness and peace. 

In the afternoon, a Barnacle Goose was found in Pennsylvania. Flights were crazy expensive for the weekend, but I have a ticket booked for Monday morning, and I'll be trying again for Rusty Blackbird there, too. 

Final stretch - just six species away from breaking the record! 

Year List: 719