Spur Wars

Entering Wyoming, we passed the battle of little bighorn monument, but to our chagrin it had just closed. However, we were about to embark on a legendary battle of our own. The cashier at the super Walmart (cute girl #4 of the trip) asked what we had on for this particular afternoon of our adventure. “We’re heading into the blizzard to look for a bird 4 inches long that lives in grass.” I told her. Re-stocked with supplies, including a magazine of donuts and pastries, an entire roast chicken and some ales to wash it down, we hammered into the storm. Birder Fuel

And the gales lashed at us. Side road after unsuccessfull side road, we were mocked by the horned ones, larks that frolicked in the squalls, twittering into oblivion. Snow hurled itself sideways at Nissan, but we stayed our course. This plan was not working, and we almost got stuck in some mud. We left the car and wandered the fields on foot, barely able to squint into the fury. All we brought back with us were cakes of mud that further burdened the Nissan in weight. We needed to continue on to the Thunder Bassin Grassland, where perhaps the battle would go our way. Then, something happened that would, by chance, turn the tide. Dom was feeling tired, so he pulled over. We got out of the car to have a look around in an over-grazed cow pasture (below). Upon first glance, a pretty ordinary field speckled with frozen patties. However...

Simultaneously, looking at completely different birds, we both said “longspur!” and laid siege upon the field. These shy and fleeting little wizards were formidable, making unnecessarily long flights when we approached too close. Then, I gingerly crept up to two females, who were too intent on eating worms than flying away from me. I scoped them. Slight chestnut lesser coverts...female McCown’s Longspurs! Then, Dom flanked them and spotted their master, the male. He feasted zealously on worms with disregard to our audienceship. Exploring the area further, we saw 4 Chestnut-collared Longspurs as well. Dom’s scope blew over, but I contributed my share of worth to our quest by catching it. We enjoyed every sweet second we could endure before freezing our willies off in the raging blizzard, then ran our asses back to the car and feasted on warm roasted chicken.