<i>Walking</i> by Henry David Thoreau
What struck me most about this essay was that it so resonated with me--how does any birder get by a spring day without walking and listening! I've been working from home this last week as my spouse recovers from surgery, and perhaps the greatest benefit to me has been the daily dose of birdsong I am blessed to hear when I take our dog on her morning walk. The morning chorus is so much more intense, varied and yes, cacophonous than the evening chorus, and the cast of avian characters differs For example I hear dueling song sparrows in the morning but rarely in the afternoon or evening when I usually walk our mutt.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
It has finally come to this...an introduction and self-serving justification
So why another birding blog? To you gentle reader, I'd suggest you view it as a desperate cry for help. In truth, I think there's room for a blog that caters to those of us in the birding community who are enthralled by birds, but by accident of circumstance, an underendowment of the skills, a late start in the endeavor, or for whatever paltry excuse that comes to mind, will never reach the stratospheric heights of birding skill, memory, and ability that are the domain of the stratospheric birder.
You know who they are, the rare stratospheric birder, and we, the numberless masses of intermediocre birders blocking the views of our betters. I am not starting this blog as a place to provide the kind of skills building suggestions we so desparately need, but as a public square and pub for we intermediocre birders to commiserate and console our confused souls struggling mightily with clearly distinguishing House and Cassin's Finches, or suffering humiliation by waterfowl calls and questions that don't account for eclipse plumages (don't ask how I know this). This is a place where your questions won't be answered with weary patience or mocking exasperation, but where you can digitally stand and shake your fist at a Prime Mover who would have the cruel sense of humor to create the Empidnomax Flycathers, and gulls in general!
For myself, I have been struggling with my birding and birding skills on and off for 25 years. Regardless of my abilities or lacks thereof, I just continue to love wild birds, looking at them, thinking about them, reading and wondering about them. I don't care, bring me Starlings, English Sparrows and American Robins, I'll look at them all, at length, and be glad to be able to identify them with some degree of confidence!
About me: I am an environmental scientist whose work in water quality occasionally gives me a chance to combine vocation and avocation. My wife and children have labeled me a bird dork, so I guess as a scientist and birder I am of the rarer double-dork variety. I regularly bird my local patch, a small relatively undeveloped creek valley in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and use eBird (www.ebird.org) for documenting my sightings and building a list. I hadn't paid much attention to a life list until recently but Ebird does the listing for you, so I am giving listing more attention than I might otherwise. I go on far fewer field trips than I should and have more birding books and other accessories than is healthy. In the end, it is the bird, the glorious, vicious, sublime, tedious reality of the bird itself that keeps me coming back for more.
Thanks for looking in; I hope you'll be back.
You know who they are, the rare stratospheric birder, and we, the numberless masses of intermediocre birders blocking the views of our betters. I am not starting this blog as a place to provide the kind of skills building suggestions we so desparately need, but as a public square and pub for we intermediocre birders to commiserate and console our confused souls struggling mightily with clearly distinguishing House and Cassin's Finches, or suffering humiliation by waterfowl calls and questions that don't account for eclipse plumages (don't ask how I know this). This is a place where your questions won't be answered with weary patience or mocking exasperation, but where you can digitally stand and shake your fist at a Prime Mover who would have the cruel sense of humor to create the Empidnomax Flycathers, and gulls in general!
For myself, I have been struggling with my birding and birding skills on and off for 25 years. Regardless of my abilities or lacks thereof, I just continue to love wild birds, looking at them, thinking about them, reading and wondering about them. I don't care, bring me Starlings, English Sparrows and American Robins, I'll look at them all, at length, and be glad to be able to identify them with some degree of confidence!
About me: I am an environmental scientist whose work in water quality occasionally gives me a chance to combine vocation and avocation. My wife and children have labeled me a bird dork, so I guess as a scientist and birder I am of the rarer double-dork variety. I regularly bird my local patch, a small relatively undeveloped creek valley in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and use eBird (www.ebird.org) for documenting my sightings and building a list. I hadn't paid much attention to a life list until recently but Ebird does the listing for you, so I am giving listing more attention than I might otherwise. I go on far fewer field trips than I should and have more birding books and other accessories than is healthy. In the end, it is the bird, the glorious, vicious, sublime, tedious reality of the bird itself that keeps me coming back for more.
Thanks for looking in; I hope you'll be back.
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