Any birdwatchers?

i use that great app called Merlin Bird on iphone at least. It identifies bird song for you! I feel so much more connected when I can hear a great tit! But, joking aside I do know
Green Woodpecker by his laugh
Buzzards by their distant caw-caw
Adorable Oyster Catchers that squeak like a little toy
and fucking pigeons that shag on our roof and have ONE SONG :mad:
 
I was outside early yesterday morning and could hear several owls off in the woods asking each other 'who, who, who, whowho?' Nobody seemed to know.
 
Today was a first. I witnessed an attack by a Cooper's hawk on a mourning dove in my back yard. That's not quite accurate. I was eating breakfast at the patio table, heard screeching and a commotion, and looked up to see the dove flying away and the hawk flying after it. It happened so fast I only caught the aftermath. Apparently, it was a very close call, because the encounter left some of the dove's feathers on the ground. I was astonished how fast it was. It was nearly over by the time I looked up from breakfast.
 
I've never prepared a lifetime list of birds sighted, and I have no idea what the number would be. I'm curious, though.
Yeah I never even thought about it either . And then I aged 😂. For me it started 25 years ago with an Audubon field guide (well, multiple). I was a counselor at an outdoor focused summer camp from 20-22 and we had multiple guides: The Night Sky, Trees/Mammals/Flowers/Birds of the Eastern US, etc. Always was interested in everything but when I was home visiting my folks and my mom started calling out Chickadees, Finches, Sparrows, Hummingbirds, etc., from our kitchen windows, I saw how excited she was. And she told me how she planted specifically for migratory birds and how thrilled she was when she saw a new or rare bird, I got the bug.

Fast forward to present. I can tell many birds by their song, the manner in which they fly, their habitat, how they perch…and yet I know nothing compared to serious birders.

But there is something incredibly satisfying about knowing about the ones I do. And knowing why and how they live, even to a tiny degree.

Modernity and the digital world make it very easy to forget that we’re part of it all. Sorry for the soliloquy. But I find the more I know about the natural order of things the more human I feel.

Ergo, try birding! 🤣
 
It floors me how often I ask visitors to my park about seeing wildlife on their hike and they say they didn't see any at all. People ignore birds, they only consider furry critters to be wildlife. But wildlife lovers should be tickled over birds, because you always see them. Who cares if the deer and coyotes and bobcats and skunks are too wily to let you spot them today.
 
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