Variety is the Spice of Life

Today’s post was indirectly inspired by my friend Walter Valo. Walt is not a birder, but he’s a person with an open mind. I believe he would try just about anything once…in many different facets of life. Anyways, I took him birding one time and Walt was more enamored with the birders than the birds themselves. I caught him on more than one occasion staring at someone on the boardwalk. He just couldn’t believe some of the characters he was witnessing. Walt’s bird watcher watching and my own personal observations over the years are the basis for this post.
The 5 Types of Birders
1. The Novice: They’ve heard of birding but perhaps thought people were joking about it being real. Can range from genuinely interested to dragged along against their will by their significant other.
2. The Nature Guy: This individual is not just into birds. He’ll talk your head off about snakes and varmints and all sorts of other stuff you probably don’t care about because you came to the park to bird. No I kid Nature Guy. He’s usually very nice and mellow. Of course I’ve always suspected him to be a pot head.
3. The Khaki Klan: I don’t know what it is about birders but so many of them go the monochromatic route when it comes to their clothing. I’ve seen entire families dressed in tan. I don’t think the birds are going to act any differently if you slide on a pair of Levi’s.
4. The Celebrity: My favorite of all birders. He wants to be the first to spot something. Correction…he NEEDS to be the first to spot something. Once he has his Hooded Warbler, or Screech Owl, or a camouflaged Woodcock (a.k.a. A pile of leaves) in his sights, he promptly begins sucking in other birders closer to view his triumphant discovery. Soon 30 or more people surround this individual, who by now is nearly prancing with pride. I’m not a huge fan of this practice, but it does add another entertaining dimension to birding.
5. The Average Joe: These people make up the vast majority of birders. They love birding, but it’s far from being their lives. This is the category I would put myself into. I’ve been birding for nearly two decades now so I don’t exactly belong in the novice class. I do in fact love nature in general, but I’m not so in awe of it that it’s creepy. My fashion sense is…satisfactory. I generally wear more than one solid color. As far as my celebrity status is concerned, I would say that I have occasionally slipped into the spotlight. I will say, however, that any boardwalk fame I’ve enjoyed throughout my birding tenure has always been accidental, and that my motives for keeping the attention once captured are more honorable than those of most of the binoculared bozos I’ve seen over the years. If you ever get the opportunity to show an avid birder one that they’ve never seen before, and perhaps have been chasing for a long time, you’ll never forget the experience. I’ve been bear hugged by complete strangers for helping them add a special life bird to their list. Despite the clear breach of personal space, those experiences have brought me much happiness.
In other news, I am up to 46 birds for the year! Highlights this past week include Pine Siskin (Oak Openings Window on Wildlife), Brown Creeper and Eastern Bluebird (Bend View Metropark), and I added a Northern Harrier (Magee Marsh) today. Carl (Dad) and I saw numerous Bald Eagles on our trip this afternoon. Right before we pulled into Magee Marsh two adult eagles were pecking at an old deer carcass out in a farm field only 30 or so feet off of Route 2. Pretty Cool. Probably won’t be birding again until Friday. Elissa and I are heading down to The Everglades Thursday night. We’re taking a boat tour of Florida Bay to look for shore birds, waders, and ocean goers. I’m really looking forward to it. I’m going to try and post about once a week so look for my Everglades run-down on either next Tuesday or Wednesday. Thanks for reading and please share any comments or questions as they come up.

Post #1: History and Making History

Start em young! That's what my dad did with me, and it is what the two of us are doing with my daughter. She doesn't fully know it yet, but she is a member of a fairly serious birding family. One thing that has always puzzled me, however, is how it started. I honestly don't know when my dad became interested in birding. I was about 10 years old when we started the hobby, but I'm at a loss as to what the catalyst was for what appears to be a seemingly life long passion.

Perhaps my father and I got the birding bug because neither of us have any other discernible talents. I'm not saying we're completely useless, but there are very few things that keep either one of us content for very long. I think both of us are restless by nature. Birding, however, is something that we could do for the rest of our lives. It's relaxing, enjoyable, and low and behold...we're really good at it. Being good at something is always a plus.

Having a passion like birding is nice, but sharing that passion with those you care about most is so much more rewarding. I always loved going out with my mom and dad and my aunts and uncles when I was younger. When I got married (4 years ago yesterday) I was down right jubilant when my wife Elissa picked up the hobby. At first I thought she was just humoring me, but soon I realized that she truly enjoyed birding as well. She even started her own life list. Her list is shorter than mine, but she never hesitates to point out the handful of birds that she saw out west in Arizona when she traveled there for a pharmacy rotation. I've never been west of Missouri so I've never had the opportunity to see a roadrunner or the plethora of hummingbirds Elissa got to spot during her trip. My competitive nature can't exactly let this fact go.

Speaking of competition, that brings me to the purpose of my blog. A couple weeks ago I finally got around to watching The Big Year with Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson. For those of you who don't know what a big year is, it is when a birder decides to try and see as many species of bird in one calendar year as he or she can. In the movie, Owen Wilson spots 755 different species. I will come nowhere close to this number. In fact, in my entire life I have seen a grand total of 213 different kinds of birds. My motivation for doing a big year is not to beat some record. I don't have the time or resources to even think about doing such a thing. I'm just curious to see if: 1) I can see this through to the end of the year and 2)if blogging about my experience will perhaps encourage others to pick up the hobby.

Although I spotted birds earlier than January 11th, I did not start recording the sightings until that date. As of this posting I currently have 32 different species of birds recorded. Highlights from my list include two new life birds: A Great Black-Backed Gull and a Rufus Hummingbird. Yes...I did say hummingbird. The Rufus Hummingbird shouldn't even be in our area let alone be here in January. One female was at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory building at Magee Marsh. She comes about every 15 minutes to a feeder that has a heat lamp constantly running. As of January 15th she was still there. Tomorrow, if all goes well, I will be on my way to Belle Isle, located in the middle of the Detroit River. I hope to see some wintering waterfowl there and to check out the historic aquarium located on the island.

In the coming year I hope that you find the information in this blog useful, entertaining, and interesting. If you see something cool out there please share it. Happy Birding!