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Hi there,
Clarence's report of a Red-necked Stint caught my eye,
because that's a bird I once nearly got to see. This was in late
August in 1997. I was spending the week on Brier Island with a
friend, and on this day we were walking towards Pond Cove from Gull
Rock Road. A man came running past us, in great haste. When he saw
my binoculars he stopped to ask if I was a birder, and then kindly
told me that a very rare bird had just been seen by him and his
group. He was going back to fetch a specialist field guide in his
vehicle. I remember how excited he was, and how urgently he wanted
to consult the book to nail the ID; it was either a Red-necked Stint,
which he thought most likely, or some other stint species. I didn't
recognize either name, and had to ask him to repeat himself: I barely
knew that a stint was a kind of bird. It must have been obvious that
I was no expert birder; but he obligingly took the time to tell me
where it had been seen, and described the field marks as carefully to
me as if I were as keen and knowledgeable as he was.
He was Doug McRae, from Ontario, and he was leading an
American birding tour. We walked down to the beach and approached
the group, a few of whom were scanning with their scopes. Most were
just standing around, thousands of dollars of optics around their
necks, no longer actively birding. I really hoped that someone would
offer to let me use his or her scope to have a look for myself. One
woman did tell me that the stint had flown off, and that a few of the
men were trying to relocate it. However most ignored me and went on
bragging about their life lists and reminiscing about rare shorebirds
they had seen on tours in other places. (One woman was telling
another that a Green Sandpiper, in North America, was a "dirt
bird". Look it up...) I remember thinking how unfriendly they
were, and how unlike the groups I had been birding with, the Halifax
Field Naturalists and the Blomidon Naturalists and the NS Bird
Society; on our trips, someone is always quick to offer the use of
his or her scope and to help you to see the bird.
Unfortunately my friend was beginning to feel unwell and was
anxious to leave, so I wasn't able to linger and search through the
flocks of shorebirds for the stint myself. I've always sort of
regretted that, but what I particularly remember about this incident
was how generous Doug McRae was to stop and share this sighting with
a stranger, and how stand-offish the rest of the group was.
Good luck to anyone searching for this bird!
Cheers,
Patricia L. Chalmers
Halifax
. at At 10:13 PM 13/09/2008, Clarence Stevens wrote:
>Hi all, Brian Dalzell, was very kind to send me an email letting me
>know that our fellow birders in New Brunswick had we had a report of
>a Red-necked Stint at Grand Manan on Sept. 8th, 2008.
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