http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30772-2005Feb16.html?sub=ARwashingtonpost.com
Bird-Watchers' Hopes Aflutter
The Faithful Flock to Frederick in Quest to Spot Rare Specimen
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 17, 2005; Page B01
Not since Shrimpy the kelp gull blew in to Maryland from South America in the 1990s has this region played host to such a rare, well-traveled and positively unusual species as Jim Swarr.
The retired ophthalmologist from St. Petersburg, Fla., joined fellow birders from South Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the Washington region in the muck of a Frederick County cornfield yesterday, hoping for a glimpse of the Northern Lapwing.
The bird, whose wing feathers glow with a metallic sheen, usually winters in East Asia but was seen for the first time in Maryland this week, pulling worms from a puddle of melted snow. It may have gotten lost on its way south from its Northern European home or been blown off course by high winds, but either way, its appearance, news of which spread through the Internet, provides dedicated birders such as Swarr with one of the biggest thrills of their sport.