Fork-tailed Flycatcher

Up at 4am in San Antonio and off to the airport for my check-in with Southwest Airlines.  I swore the whole way there at having to be there at such an early hour, but later when I learned that security had become hopelessly clogged and bogged down to the point that our plane had to wait a half hour for our last passenger to board, I was relieved.  It was much better to be sitting on the plane, working a crossword puzzle and nodding off, than swearing my way through the TSA lines.  On to Chicago and thence on to Hartford where Denny Abbott and Davis Finch were waiting to tell me they had already seen the Fork-tailed Flycatcher earlier today.  I followed them to their car, and we all motored to Stamford CT and Cove Island Park where the flycatcher was still amazing birdwatchers.  We watched it and photographed it at a distance (photo) for about an hour and then headed back to NH in a vain effort to get ahead of the commuter traffic.  Alas, we were instead in the thick of it.  Pausing only momentarily to gas up, we soldiered on until hunger pangs forced us off the road at the same Cracker Barrel at which Denny and I had mourned the loss of my scope last month.  A nice, if unexciting meal was had by all.  Then onward, dropping Davis off at his house and driving on to Denny's home where I cancelled my flight to FL for tomorrow awaiting better news on the Thick-billed Vireo.  But wait!..... there are crossbills just across the street.