I have been spending some time in Florida recently, because, hey, who wouldn’t want to be in the middle of a pandemic hotspot in 90 degree temperatures + 90% humidity during hurricane season? (Can you sense the heavy sarcasm??) Actually, I’m mostly visiting family, but finding some time to bird in between. Most of my birding has been inland, where the best sighting shortly after arriving in FL was finding a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in a local park.
We spotted the bird 2 minutes after leaving the car (and leaving the camera behind, since expectations were low). Fortunately, it perched on a wire, giving me a chance to run back to the car, grab the camera, and snap a documentary photo.
Later we spotted it a few hundred yards away in a more natural setting, as it flew from treetop to treetop.
When seeing a species like this in a location that we’re not familiar with, it can be unclear how unusual it is. It turns out this was a better sighting than I had expected. According to eBird, Scisssor-taileds are seen in Florida each year, but mostly in the Jan. – March time frame. There was only one summer sighting in all of FL in 2017, 2018, and 2019. This was the first one seen in the county this year but unfortunately it turned out to be a one-day wonder, so other birders did not get an opportunity to view it. So it turned out to be a great seasonal and local sighting. And the best part is that it was spotted only five minutes from home on a day when nothing was expected. Birding at its best….anything can show up.