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The cruelty of birding



Rick Payne, Judy Murray, and I drove up to Grandfather
mountain yesterday to see the White-winged crossbills.
We were a bit late arriving but when we did, the
Foothills Bird Club brought us over to where they had
the crossbills in view.  Just as I found the tree, I
saw 4 shapes leaving.  Rick got a similar view and I
dont think Judy even got that much. The birds were
there for 45 minutes and we were 30 seconds late after
a 3 hour drive.
People in the know said they were sure to show up
again so we settled down to wait. Lunch, some feeder
watching, a few short walks, and a lot of standing
around in the parking lot later, it was approaching 3
pm and we were about to go.  Then we saw a reddish
bird at the top of a nearby tree. It dropped down and
we hustled over.  It soon popped up again and there it
was, a beautiful male crossbill in the sun. 
But wait! Where are the wing bars? I don't see any
wing bars! AAAAAAAHHHHH! A red crossbill.  Don't get
me wrong, red crossbills are pretty and are always a
good bird, but I have seen hundreds. I have never seen
a white-winged.
Missing a life bird by 30 seconds is bad, having your
hopes raised after sitting around for 5 hours only to
have them dashed again is just cruel.  
(as a final insult, the Taco Bell we went to didn't
have chili cheese burritos)
Bruce Young
young715@yahoo.com
durham, nc


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