Scissor-tail

My mother and I take a half-hour walk every day, weather permitting, along the road that runs by the high school near her house. Across from the school are large fields of grass and wildflowers. At the moment, these are mostly orange Indian paintbrushes.

There are tons of bugs and therefore lots of birds: blackbirds, crows, bluebirds, cardinals, mockingbirds. 

This evening when we took our after-dinner walk, we noticed scissor-tailed flycatchers perched on the barbed wire that stretches along the field. Under this name, it is the State Bird of Oklahoma. Around here it is also known as the Texas bird of paradise and the swallow-tail flycatcher.

The tail is striking, particularly in flight, but it is not as exotically colored as the nickname, Texas bird of paradise, might imply. Still, it is a bird I see down here and not in Wisconsin, and I am enjoying having them around.