Just Lost

Sometimes a migrant bird gets lost. Maybe they should have stopped and asked for directions. 

Now, we, and our friend Terry (actually both of them) live in New Jersey. And a quick look at a globe will confirm that NJ borders that Atlantic Ocean.

So it is a bit of a surprise when this bird ...

Image courtesy Terry Lodge

... a Pacific Golden Plover appears in these here parts.

Image courtesy Terry Lodge

It is not clear why birds veer so far off course. Maybe that part of the brain responsible for navigation is mis-wired. Maybe a storm blows them off their path. Maybe the just want to explore and see new places (yeah, probably not this).

But the discovery of such a wanderer causes another migration of sorts. That of birders from the surrounding area to the site where the wandered was found. The rarer the bird, the greater this secondary migration.

And so it was that Patty and Terry found themselves driving down to the Jersey shore. Where they got to see this bird.

The happy duo.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

These two, who both work in grammar schools, got to see the bird. I, who still had a couple hours of my work day left, got to do a blog post.

Not to worry, I've seen this bird. Twice. Once in Hawaii. And once on Tatakoto,  an atoll in French Polynesia, where I also saw this.