Yes, the year was not great, but 2020 also brings you the greatest Christmas (Bird Count) story ever told.

Gather round friends and let me tell you the story of the Miracle at McClellansville! or It's a Wonderful Lifer! or The Stint-a Clause! (still working on the name) (1/8)

The date is Dec 19. The place is the McClellansville CBC in coastal South Carolina.

Birder Nate Dias discovers an unusual shorebird while counting his area that he identifies as a Little Stint!

This is a South Carolina 1st record and big deal! But wait... (2/8)

The bird is banded! It's not uncommon to encounter a shorebird with a band, even though recoveries are fairly rare. But a vagrant with a band? Wild.

So looking at his photographs he decodes the band number which also reads... wait... Riksmuseet?!? SWEDEN?!?! (3/8)

So Nate contacts the museum in Stockholm and they suggest that the bird was banded (or ringed as they say in Europe) as part of an operation at Sweden, but there's a pandemic and it's Christmas so it may be a while before we get confirmation of that. (4/8)

I post the bird to the ABA RBA group and it gets attention as a bonkers bird record in a year of bonkers bird records.

It isn't long before Swedish ornithologist Magnus Hellström of @OttenbyBO pops in and says, "Holy moly (or Swedish equivalent), that's one of our birds!" (5/8)

Here's the story from his end. On Sep 19 a ringer working at night pulls two Little Stints from the nets, takes them to the bird observatory where they are fitted with tiny metal bands and released.

Ornithologist Lisa Vergin takes a shot of a bird in hand being processed. (6/8)

EXACTLY THREE MONTHS LATER, *that same individual Little Stint* is photographed at a wildlife management area in coastal South Carolina by Nate Dias and identified.

In case you need to visualize how far that bird traveled, here it is. 4500 miles! 7250 km! (7/8)

Over the last 75 years about a quarter of a million shorebirds have been banded at @OttenbyBO, but this is the first ring found in North America!

On a Christmas Bird Count, no less.

Best bird story of the year? In the running at least! (8/8)