Rare White-winged Scoter

I took this photo this morning on Lake Havasu at the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge.  This is a duck of the Pacific Coast and a very unusual duck to be seen here in Arizona. I’ve managed to photograph two rare birds in the last couple of days, which is very unusual for me as I’m not one to go chasing rarities. Birders develop along a series of steps.  It usually starts out innocently enough, maybe paying a little attention to birds at your backyard feeder.  Next you buy a bird identification guide, then a pair of binoculars. Somewhere along the line you start keeping track and making lists of birds you see.  Then it’s more bird guides, better binoculars, maybe a spotting scope. At some undefinable point you go from being just a “bird watcher” to a “birder”. The most obsessed among birders are the ones that chase after rarities. They are not content with the normal everyday birds; their habit requires the fix of something new and different.  They read blogs, search the Internet, and drive all over in search for the ellusive rare sighting.  I just want it to be perfectly clear, ---I did not go looking for these rare birds, they just happened to show up where I was.