Northern Lapwing - 726!

Dec 23 

After a scheduled and then cancelled flight for Steller’s Sea-Eagle, which disappeared at 1 pm the previous day, and a scheduled and then postponed flight to the Northern Lapwing in Maryland (I freaked out over the idea of chasing the bird which had only been present one day, and decided to wait another day to see what happened), I flew to Philadelphia. Debbie picked me up from the airport - an essential part of the planning, as my flight was scheduled to get in at 2:30 pm, the bird was 45 minutes from the airport, and sunset was at 4:40 pm, and renting a car may have been cutting it a bit close to sunset. 

Debbie picked me up and swept me away to New Jersey immediately. She’d sweetly packed me a bagged lunch / dinner, with tasty vegetarian food, plus fancy Lindt chocolates for dessert. It was much appreciated after a day of short connecting flights and avoiding expensive airport food. 

We chatted and caught up on the drive- I’d met Debbie in 2011 at John Heinz refuge in Philly when I saw my lifer Least Bittern. I’d seen her for about 15 minutes, also at Heinz, a week and a half ago while looking for Rusty Blackbird after picking up Barnacle Goose, but there wasn’t much time to catch up. 

We arrived to a few cars and half a dozen people enjoying close views of the Northern Lapwing. The light was perfect! It wasn’t even a state bird for me- I’d seen two in New Jersey in 2013, but these views were so much more incredible than the looks I’d had at those birds, that it pretty much felt like a life bird. Those head plumes! It looks like a bedazzled Killdeer. 

I met several women at the lapwing spot, including Shannon and Kacey - a mother / daughter birding duo from Virginia. 

There were a couple of hilarious moments for me, including a woman whose friend had sent her a picture of me, telling her I was going looking for this bird today, and that if she saw me, she could count ME as a lifer! 

Another truck passed by as we were about to leave, and it was a family of non-birders, who happened to have watched The Big Year (now on Netflix) a few days prior. They happened to be driving this random country road with cars parked, and asked people if they were birdwatching. Debbie and I were already in the car. They had asked the other birders, jokingly, if anyone was doing a Big Year, and the others motioned to us and sent them to drive up to our car. The look on his face was absolutely priceless, and I was thoroughly enjoying how excited a complete non-birder was about the whole thing! I hope this family finds some binoculars and joins the global birding family pronto! 

Afterward, Debbie took me to Sara’s place where I’d spend the night. Sara picked me up a week and a half ago and took me to the Barnacle Goose. She is doing a Pennsylvania Big Year and remains five birds short of the new record. It’s been fun to compare and contrast big year experiences. Sara made an amazing vegan chili for dinner, and we celebrated the added year bird with peanut butter whiskey shots. Sounds awful, tastes amazing.