What is the best remedy for relaxing after a long Monday at work? For me, it is bicycling home at a leisurely pace. The only thing better is bicycling home at a leisurely pace so I could do some
birding. Paid off, this last Monday. Action continues on warblers; Palm Warblers are everywhere! Best
birding of the evening, though, was at a local pond. Added several Lesser Yellowlegs as well as a Solitary Sandpiper, but the bird of the day was the American Pipit, my first Pipit in this area and a bird I have not seen since I left the prairies of Nebraska. It was especially noteworthy because this Pipit was a scant 10 yards from me and I could see almost every feather in my
Leica 10x25BL. Quite a different experience from seeing a Pipit far out in the marsh flats with a
spotting scope, as was the usual sighting, back in Nebraska. This bird also shows why a good birder should own and use a variety of Field Guides. The American Pipit varies quite a bit in its plumage. Best match on this individual Pipit was with my latest edition of the Geographic, followed by Sibley's, with Peterson's coming in a distant third.