Lapland Longspur on Randall's Island - 31st Jan

While waiting for Conor to finish his football training session on Randall's Island today I took a quick tour around the island looking for whatever I could find. Almost the first bird I looked at was a stonking Lapland Longspur sitting on a fire hydrant! It was flushed soon after by a couple of joggers, but I relocated it, and it was fantastically confiding. It didn't let me get too close, it's trigger distance seemed to be about 10 metres, but it was very happy if I stayed beyond that range.

Edit 2nd Feb: This turns out to be a much rarer bird than I expected. This is the first 'on-land' record in New York County (Manhattan) for over 50 years! Odd as they are basically annual at Floyd Bennett Field in Queens...

What a bird!