Bad Picture of a Great Bird: #3 - Henslow's Sparrow; Croatan, NC

When the listservs are abuzz with great birds like Henslow's Sparrows, sometimes you just gotta chase 'em. Such was the case in the late winter of 2011, when, after hearing about easy-to-find Henslow's Sparrows along a powerline easement in the Croatan National Forest, I set out to find them with Mark K of The Belted Cowbird. We arrived at the powerline easement a little later than we'd like to've (Hwy 70 makes no sense sometimes) and started walking in the tall reeds to flush the birds. They were easy to find, alright. Just head towards a patch of green leafy thingies ("plants", I believe they're called) and often we'd flush one. Easy to see, on the other hand, these birds were not. After flushing about six separate birds, we finally got one to sit up in a bush on the edge of the woods, and we got decent binoc views. 

Henslow's Sparrow - Croatan National Forest, NC; 03/05/2011

That is to say, after Mark gave me exact directions such as "It's sitting just under the branch; no, the OTHER branch. The branch with the stuff hanging down, and the other branch going over the left of it" to which I replied things like "Huh? What? Where? I don't-? You mean? Oh THAT branch?"  Finally, I got on the bird, and I snapped this pic at the veeeery edge of my camera's zoom range. I didn't even realize I'd gotten him in the frame til I checked the pics! So, I have photographic evidence of a fantastic bird, even though it took a little digital magic to make the bird viewable. Totally worth it.