Birding from a Tractor

My visit to the grasslands of the Red River area was more productive for birding than I expected. My friend's job puts her in a tractor all day every day it doesn't rain, and I was allowed to ride along for several hours on Saturday.

While she fixed and greased the tractor, I watched a little birdie singing his heart out on a tall weed. He had a black goatee and a yellow breast, but I could not see him as well as I would have liked. I had been warned of the chiggers that lived in the grass.

A hawk hung directly above and my friend told me he follows her, hunting rats. He landed fifteen feet away as we drove by and I got a good look at him. He looked just like an image I recalled from my Sibley--but I could not remember of whom. Numerous medium-sized birds with white patches on their tails flew from here to there, but the tractor kept them at a distance my naked eye could not negotiate. Savannah Sparrows and a nighthawk perched on a fence rail until the tractor got a little too close.

I forgot the fifth point of birding calvinism and neglected to bring my Sibley on the trip. Thankfully I was able to look closely enough to remember definite characteristics to look up later. Further study revealed that I had become more intimate with Swainson's Hawk, the Eastern Meadowlark, and the Horned Lark. I have seen none of them regularly and the lark never before.

One must take advantage of opportunities to commune with nature, whether cutting hay or treading softly through thickets. Leeches, chiggers, and sweat can be daunting, but they are nothing when opposed to the open air.

Inebriate of Air—am I—
And Debauchee of Dew—