Texas Scissors

The bird at left has long been one of my favorites. The first time I saw one I had no idea what it was. My wife and I were driving through a state park in Oklahoma with our three sons on a 6 week motorhome trip. A bird flew across in front of us and I asked "what was that?" My wife answered "A Scissor Tailed Flycatcher". This was years before we started birding and I of course did not believe her. After a little research it was determined that it was indeed the aforementioned bird. Once I started photographing birds the Scissor Tailed was on my want list. On a business trip to the Dallas/Fort Worth area years after my first sighting my wish came true. I was actually driving to the airport for my return trip to Tennessee. On a busy four lane highway I started seeing Scissortails sitting on the roadside fences. I pulled off the highway as soon as possible and got out the camera. There were several birds in that particular spot and they were cooperative with my photo efforts. Its not until those long tails are spread apart in flight that you visualize the scissors. I got so involved with the photo session I had to speed up my drive to make it to my flight ontime.