2000 Miles For A Collared Plover! #birdinginsanity #yolo

Hola desde un lugar muy caliente!

Leaving SFO yesterday afternoon, our hearts were filled with trepidation and anxiety. We had spent a good chunk of change for a 48-hour, whirlwind trip to lovely McAllen, TX, in search of a rare bird that hadn't been reported on eBird or email lists in 48 hours. Would we find it, or was this plover just another windmill at which we were jousting?

As the plane climbed to 36,000 feet and the drink cart rolled by, we experience several changes of perspective, summarized thusly:

"It's not going to be there. Stupid bird. I hate Collared Plovers. In fact, I hate all Plovers. F-U Plovers. Look, Buddy, just hang around for a few more hours, say Hi, and we'll bring you some nice Plover-Treats. Dammit, why are we doing this? This is a stupid waste of time. Oh, well, it is what it is. Excuse me, ma'am, may I have another glass of wine?"

When our flight from DFW to McAllen was then delayed for an unspecified period of time because, "Your plane was broken, so we needed to bring over another plane, but now it needs to be inspected", our level of hope was almost at an all-time low. The nadir would be reached when we finally arrived at our hotel at 1AM, only to be told by the desk clerk, "Hmm... I don't see your reservation here."

Fortunately, that got resolved easily, and after a solid 5 hours of sleep, we were up bright and early to avoid the sweltering, humid heat and find our boy.

Did we find him? After a whopping 2 minutes of searching at the specified location, YES!

Snowy Plover in the front, Collared Plover on the shoreline. Did I mention that I hate Snowy Plovers, too? But, that's a rant for another time.

This is only the third record in Recorded North American Avian History of a Collared Plover here. They normally range from South America to southern Mexico, but one was reported in Texas in 1992, and the second was last year at this exact same pond, on the exact same shoreline. So, this bird is probably the same one that was here last year. I find it interesting how specific birds will end up somewhere completely out of their range, leave for a season, and then return back to exactly the same place.

What a relief!

Now, I need to figure out what to do with an extra day in South Texas...

Seeking Air Conditioning,
Me