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| The Northern Harrier |
So as a beginner in birding, I'm realizing that there are various levels of birding. Some go to see any birds(that's me) while others go to check birds off their lists. And some go for the challenge of finding rarities out in the wild. I'm not the last two types of birder....yet. The best comparison that I can come up with is from my French series. When you go to Paris, you go see the Eiffel Tower. When you go to the Whitewater Draw, you go for the Sand Cranes. I'm here to say that I'd like to be the birder who looks for the hard to find birds once I get over the ones that "steal" the show:) And I know that once I get my "Eiffel Tower" experience out of the way in the birding field, I'll be a better birder. But for now, it's the waterfowl, sand cranes, scarlet macaws, hawks, cardinals, and the owls! But there is so much more out there just waiting to be seen:)
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| Loggerhead Shrike |
For example, did you know this Loggerhead Shrike above is a brutal killer? Known in many parts as the "Butcher Bird," it impales its prey on thorns or barbed wire before eating it, because it does not have the talons of the larger birds of prey. How cool is that? But the Sand Cranes steal all the thunder away from these interesting birds:) But I noticed!
The ducks fought back during my Whitewater Draw visit and they flew around the air just to say, "We are here!!!" And the air became thick with birds, waterfowl, songbirds and cranes alike as they flew around in a massive cloud of wings. When all that action is going on, it makes it difficult to focus on the smaller details hiding in the reeds. I know my advanced birder friends politely smile at me and look at my birding as naive. But I'll get there. As I expand the garden, I'll be attracting various birds to the area......and it's important to know what's out there. For now, I'm just enjoying the ride and look forward to the day where I'll actually carry a birding book and go with a mission to find the unattainable rare brown bird:) However no matter the depths of our birding interest, I think "Birds of a feather stick together." sums all of us best.
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