Rarity of the day

This post was going to be titled something along the lines of "Good riddance, September", but then a bird came along and changed my attitude! You see, September was kind of a write-off month for me, as far as my big year was concerned. Yes, I did find a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, but other than that my only year bird was Parastic Jaeger from September 1st. All the while, the two other birders doing a big year were adding rarities left right and centre! I was feeling a little discouraged, but then we found a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.

We were going about 120 on the highway east of Kapuskasing when Alan yells out, "Scissor-tailed Flycatcher!". We look, and there it is on the wire as we fly past. We turned around, back-tracked, and parked in someone's driveway, taking photos of it. Surprisingly, they were very gracious and not in the least bit disturbed with 3 strangers taking photos towards their house! We spent the next half hour chatting with them and taking photos of the beaut. What a bird!

While Scissor-tailed Flycatcher wasn't a new one for the year list, it was a great bird, only the 2nd ever for Cochrane District. There are about 60 records in total for Ontario. Not a year bird, but things are starting to look up! As well, there are rumours swirling of some rarities in Ontario and I am hoping to add a 5th dove/pigeon species to my year list tomorrow afternoon...