Back in Thaxted, another lifer for me was the reed bunting. These are really cute birds, similar to sparrows in their body but have a different looking head and neck. I was actually surprised to see it was a reed bunting, as there were a lot of skylarks in the field, so I thought I was getting a photo of one, but when I uploaded the photos from camera to my computer and saw them on the larger screen, I realised I had something I didn't recognise. Given that I had no face, I put it to the Facebook bird group, and it was quickly identified with their expert eyes. We actually have buntings in Alberta, snow buntings in the winter and lazuli buntings in the summer, but they don't tend to come up to where I live, so I've never seen them. That's part of what I find exciting about birding in the UK is getting to see birds that we either have at home or have a relative of at home but that I don't get a chance to see because I don't live where they tend to populate.
As I mentioned, my photo of it isn't the best--the only photo I was able to get before it flew off was one with its face turned away, but I've included it here anyway just in case it's the only photo I ever get of one. A bad photo is still better than no photo when it comes to bird sightings!
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