Please read the tech stuff first: "A small dapper bird of arctic barrens, flitting from rock to rock, fanning it's tail and bobbing. Range: Eurasia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland. Migrates to Africa and India." Peterson Field Guide of Western Birds p 278. It was not mentioned that for only the second time in Texas birding history it appeared in the backyard garden of an humble Amish man and wife living near Tynan, Texas.
Dr. Robert Edwards and I had to see it for ourselves. We left Rockport at 7:00 AM for the one hour drive to rural farmland near Tynan, Texas. It was about sixty degrees and calm when we left. Arriving about eight AM we stepped out into an arctic gale, and temp in the lower forties! A car from Arkansas was parked in the muddy driveway of our Amish host. We moved quickly to the small protected porch at the rear of their little house. There was a real woodpile; a garden with cabbage, carrots and some other greens growing. A horse was hitched to a black Amish buggy. This is unreal! We are looking for a wanderer from Alaska or even Greenland in a South Texas garden belonging to Amish? I didn't even know there were any down here. In fact, there are about eight families living next to each other. They travel from house to house in their buggys. Rumor has it one of them has a SUV. Anyway, there we stood. In less than ten minutes the little bird showed. We all zeroed in and got a good look. The Wheatear was not satisfied with that. He flew to the woodpile and proceeded to nab an insect and swallow it while less than twenty-five feet away! It was an amazing view of a "lifer" making only his second appearance in Texas. In fact, there have been very few sightings across the entire country. We signed our names in the guest book and left a donation in the money box. We then went down the road to his fathers's store and bought honey, peanut brittle, and apple butter. The store was different. There were no lights. No electricity! All in all it was one of the most unusual birding events Robert and I had ever known. The Northern Wheatear joins my "life list" at number 502. Who would have ever believed that? Not me.
