Chasing the Dark-billed Cuckoo

West Delray Regional Park (or "my park," as I like to call it) is over 300 acres of natural Florida beauty. There are 38 lake acres, multiple kinds of birds and plants, a resident alligator, and an occasional armadillo. Although the park hosts activities such as disc golf, archery, remote control car racing, miniature plane flying, and trail biking, I frequent the park to walk/run on its winding paths. There to watch the sunrise, I am often the only person in the park at that early hour. I like it that way.

Yesterday, I took my company there a little later in the morning to find a few dozen cars parked near the bike trails. I figured it was due to the later hour. But as we proceeded to walk the paths, we came upon several people toting cameras bigger than armadillos. We had to ask what the occasion was.

The dark-billed cuckoo had been spotted in the park! Whoo-hoo!

Um, what?

The dark-billed cuckoo is a resident of South America. According to the birders/photographers, it has only ever been spotted in North America once. But two days ago, someone spotted it here and spread the news on Twitter. Voila! Birders all over my park!

The cuckoo is a rather dull brown with a whitish underside. Its long tail has white spots, and its beak is black. Other than that, the only noteworthy thing about its appearance is the red ring around its eyes. A medium sized bird, it's 10" - 12" long with a wingspan of 15" - 17". It doesn't seem to be that spectacular a bird! But while my googling revealed that it "has occurred as a vagrant in Florida," the birders at the park insist that that  has only happened once before, good enough reason for them to travel to Delray (from places as far away as Georgia, New York, and California) to try to spot the little thing and capture it on film.

Whatever rocks your boat.

When I returned to my place, my houseguests advised me that there is a small wren nesting in my dryer vent hose! I recall seeing a tiny wren hopping on my kitchen window sill the other day, but I had no idea she considered it part of her back yard! Last fall, after bitching about my dryer taking forever to dry my clothes, I separated the hose from the vent to find all kinds of hardened lint and stuff blocking the vent. I reached my hand in, cleared it out, and was surprised by the sunlight that suddenly appeared. I thought the problem was solved. Apparently, I need to figure out a way to stop my little wren from living rent-free in my space.

And it breaks my heart! She may not be a dark-billed cuckoo, but she selected me to share living quarters with. Me, not an obsessive birder or professional photographer. She picked me. And I can't help but contemplate who gets to be "special" in this crazy world . . . the ones who capture our attention because of their uniqueness or splendor or misplacement? Or the ones who quietly inhabit their space and go unnoticed? Look around your own orbit. Who gets your attention? Who gets taken for granted?

Who is camera-worthy?