Chapter 3: REVENGE

Then it was off to Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa. Not exactly a state that springs to mind when you think of epic wildlife but this spot was pretty neat. We quickly rounded up Dom's first lifer of the trip: a thicket swarming with Harris's sparrows. But our true quarry was the Smith's Longspur, a buntingy bird of sorts that migrates from the arctic to the southern great plains. Based on ebird it seemed we were a little early to be looking for these migrants, but that just meant we had to try a little harder. Actually we wandered the open prairie all day without seeing one. At the visitors center, we consulted the naturalists on the possible haunts, meanwhile Dom was having problems of his own with a giant badger.

 But so far, no Smith's...until we decided to drive to this other spot, where we walked around a field of short grass, their habitat, finding 4 Sprague's Pipits. Just as the sunlight was starting to run out, we flushed two birds with calls like that of a cowbird crossed with a Lapland Longspur - the characteristic call of a Smith's. It took a long time for us to stalk them across the field, since they kept flying at our approach, but eventually we ensnared one in our view for a long, sweet, juicy moment. Vengeance was ours.