Scissor-tailed!

[Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Hidden Valley tonight. Click to enlarge photos.]

What are you going to do when the news of a good bird comes in, especially a real "looker?" Mike Crewe was repairing his ceiling, Vince Elia was cooking dinner, Tony Leukering had just finished his, I was staring at a list in the supermarket. . .then news of a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher came across the phone, via Sandra Keller (I'm not sure who originally found the bird, we think it was a friend of Sandy's). We all dropped what we were doing, and ran.

The bird was originally in the first field at the Hidden Valley section of Higbee Beach WMA, foraging in the newly plowed field where NJDFW is doing management - for birds, as a matter of fact. A Common Grackle and Red-winged Blackbirds chased the Scissor-tailed across New England Road briefly, but soon it flew back to the plowed field and, when last I saw it, seemed to settle into a black cherry in the hedge at the west side of the first field at Hidden Valley.

[Birders collected this evening for the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Check, or follow, www.twitter.com/CMBObirds for instant news of rare birds or bird spectacles in the Cape May area.]

On the way back from the flycatcher, I checked Norbury's Landing and found a 3rd cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull, a few Bonaparte's Gulls, and about 1100 Laughing Gulls, collected to feed on an apparent recent spawn by Horseshoe Crabs, more good news. We expect a big spawn with the new moon high tides next week.