Lapwing Update 1/18

Around lunchtime Shari wanted to go back to New Egypt to see the lapwings again--it was very sunny today and we wanted to see them in better light than we did under the murky gray skies we had on Monday. I joked that it was sort of a victory "lap" for Shari.

I was also hoping for Sandhill Cranes for my Bird A Day (I would then go back to Whitesbog soon and use the swans then). No cranes were present for the 1/2 hour we could stand being out in the cold (the air temperature wasn't anything special today but the wind chill was something else), but we did find the lapwings immediately, pretty much where they were on Monday, in the back of the field.  Shari tried digiscoping but the wind and our relatively rickety tripod were not in her favor.

However, the wispy crest is easily viewed in this photo and in the bright sunlight we were able to see the iridescent green on their backs so it was worth the drive out there. On the negative side of the ledger there were three people walking in the back of the field, trying to sneak up on the lapwings (or maybe they were just trying to keep their footing in the sucking mud). A couple of members of the family that owns the farm drove up and wanted to know if we knew who they were--they'd parked their car on the farm's road. The woman of the pair said, "Daddy don't want them on his property." I don't blame Daddy.

Aside from the fact that these people were breaking the law, being inconsiderate of the rest of the birders who were there by potentially flushing the birds and ruining access for all the birders who will want to go there this weekend, they were really stupid. The field is a foot deep in mud with very big bulls with very big horns roaming around in it. Daddy doesn't need the headache of some idiot suing him because he got gored by a bull when he fell down in the mud. Though I'm sure all the birders along the roadside would be entertained by such a sight.


Update to the update: The trespassers' car was stuck in the mud, the police were called and much schadenfreude was shared by all right-thinking birders everywhere.