everyone is a birder
When I bird, I take my camera.
It’s just a pre-professional DSLR. My lens isn’t equipped for National Geographic level wildlife videography, but it can capture some wonderful moments of birds that I find myself close enough to.
I used to decide ahead of time whether an outing was going to be a birding outing or not. And whether or not it was depended on several things: the company, the time, if I had two hours to spare, etc. If it was a birding outing, I’d take my camera with. If it was not, I’d leave my camera behind.
Then I learned my lesson.
One quiet morning, I stopped at one of our sites, Lake Wheeler. I happened to have my camera in my car, but I wasn’t there to bird. It was 10am. I was there to get some information updates, so I didn’t even glance over my shoulder for my tripod when I unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out of the car. But I did hesitate. Perhaps I should bring it. Birding or not, you never know, I figured.
I grabbed my camera.
Lake Wheeler is gorgeous. I wandered the lakefront and followed the perimeter of the visitor center overlooking the water, then I trekked down several docks for a 360 view. My camera hung off my fingertips at my side.
I wound up far from my car. Meandering down one more dock, I looked up, and that’s where I spotted a majestic Great Blue Heron, not even fifty feet away.
Thank goodness I had my camera!
Once I sat on the dock, this guy walked my way. I got to watch this wonderful bird for several minutes, noticing its minute behaviors and features. The shaggy feathers. The attentiveness of its steps. The golden ring in its eyes. I even captured what is to-date my favorite bird video of mine.
This was another unplanned opportunity. Just a summer afternoon on the back porch.
Carolina Wrens are delightfully loud. This one provided a pleasant atmospheric soundtrack to me just lounging around swatting mosquitoes. Eventually, he left the trees and finally made his way to the porch.
I watched him wander around for nearly an hour.
Who knows what this little guy was up to, but he explored every corner of the backyard, and I got to witness his expedition.
So what’s with these great birding opportunities happening at strange times, times where I wasn’t even trying? Why have my favorite moments been the unplanned ones?
See, these stories are not about always having your camera on you—although perhaps that is a wise thing to do if you like bird photography! It’s actually about the nature of birds, and by extension, the nature of birdwatching.
You can always bird.
Whether you’ve planned an outing, or you’re finding yourself spotting birds in the city, birding can happen at any time.
When we—both bird watchers and those who couldn’t care less—think about birding, we often think of structured outings. Maybe there’s an upcoming bird walk or we are going to set our alarm for 5am on Saturday to make it to the lake by 6 to see the highest density of bird activity. Maybe you’ve heard that people keep spotting a Horned Lark at a nearby clearing, so NOW is the time to free up some time to go look for it. While these are all great ways to enjoy birds, there are also all the moments and opportunities in between.
What about in the drive thru, when you run out of time to grab breakfast before work, and you can watch some sparrows flitting in the trees?
What about on your evening walk with your dog, where you can hear the Mockingbirds move from one call to the next?
What about at your balcony suet feeder—the only feeder you can manage to sustain in your second floor apartment?
What about at an outdoor event, spotting a bird you’ve never seen before that peeks through the trees and calls out cheerily?
What about on your walk back to your car at the grocery store, how you can hear them singing in the distance?
Whether here or there, at home or on the road, there are birds. And that means you can bird nearly anywhere, nearly anytime.
So next time you find yourself itching to carve out some structured birding time, or next time you decide not to even look at the trees because “this isn’t a birding outing”, remember this. Remember the Great Blue Heron.