Crested Lark Twitch

Believe it or not, that small, vaguely bird shaped object is a Crested Lark! We actually had pretty good views of it on the ground later on after chasing it around for several hours. At one point it flew right over our heads. The bird was very flighty and the autofocus on my camera was terrbile at picking it up (hence the dreafdful image).

It was noticably different from a skylark. In flight it looked slightly larger with broader, more rounded wings and a buff underside. Once we got good views of it on the deck we could finally see why it's called a CRESTED Lark but unfortunately it was just too far away for the SLR.

This was the biggest twitch I'd been on. It was pretty manic at times as birders actually sprinted to wherever the Lark decided to land next! Life list = 233

(Many thanks to Mark for driving!)

(Crowds at Crested Lark twitch)