So yesterday, my birding buddy Tony Dvorak convinces me to get up at 1 am and drive to Ohio to chase a rare bird. It was a 6.5 hour drive to Killibuck, Ohio, down a dirt road in the cold.
We arrive and within 15 mins bird shows up flies around and disappears. It comes back 4 hours later, back in the trees. Not the greatest photo opportunities.
After waiting anxiously, I take off and drive to what was called Sugar Creek, Ohio to look for painted buntings (which I missed by an hour!).
I wait 4 hours, it returns.... but way out in trees. I view through back of Nikon p900 camera live view so i guess it counts as a lifer.
Conclusion: Birding is a matter of luck and persistence. Sometimes you get the bird and sometimes "you get the bird" lol.
I present to you my lifer black headed grosbeak!
The black-headed grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) is a medium-sized, seed-eating bird in the same family as the northern cardinal, the Cardinalidae.
It is sometimes considered conspecific with the rose-breasted grosbeak (P. ludovicianus) with which it hybridizes on the American Great Plains.The Black-headed Grosbeak's scientific names are both well-suited.
Its species name, melanocephalus, means "black-headed.” And its genus name, Pheucticus, refers either to the Greek pheuticus for "shy" or phycticus meaning "painted with cosmetics," fitting for a showy bird that forages in dense foliage.
(From Wikipedia)
