As birders, we have all had the experience of noticing movement or a
distant shape and hoping it was that rare bird we were looking for.  We
once had an opposite sort of experience.  We were driving around the
edge of the mountains near Walla Walla in early November.  It had been a
dry year and there had been an early frost.  Everything was quite
brown.  Up ahead along the road we saw something white moving on the
fence.  I was quite sure it was a white plastic bag, flapping in the
breeze.  Birding had been slow that morning, so we stopped the car
anyway and got out our binoculars to check it out.  Imagine our surprise
when the plastic bag flew across the field.  It landed further away, in
the top of a tree and clearly visible.  A Gyrfalcon!!!!  How lucky were we!

The bird we were actually looking for that day was a Bohemian waxwing, a
bird we are still looking for.

Stay well!

Judy Clinesmith

Lacey, WA