For the Love of Birds
“Sometimes I think that the point of birdwatching is not the actual seeing of the birds, but the cultivation of patience. Of course, each time we set out, there's a certain amount of expectation we'll see something, maybe even a species we've never seen before, and that it will fill us with light. But even if we don't see anything remarkable - and sometimes that happens - we come home filled with light anyway.”
― Lynn Thomson, Birding with Yeats: A Mother's Memoir
Listening to the birds sing in the mornings lightens my heart. Better than an alarm clock, is awakening to the sounds of birds busying themselves with breakfast to get energy for their day.
Tired, overwhelmed with my schedule of working as a physical therapist, teaching, and getting ready for painting the house and for a trip, I gather my gear and head out anyway. I know I should not take the time. But being told there was a fledging owlet in a park 20 minutes away. I have no idea where to start looking. I feel rushed as I drive to the park, get out and start walking. An hour passes. I look at every tree in the park. I am discouraged. I decide to scan the park one more time.
A dog is chasing a ball and a man is finishing blowing his driveway across from the park. Maybe that scares the baby owl. The night before others were looking also, and we spotted the adult. The baby was finally seen after dark. No photos that evening. I know I am too busy to be here, but I am drawn. Two hours pass and I hardly notice the time. Directly across from the man blowing his driveway, I look straight up, and there he is!. A half feather, half down juvenile great horned owl!
Now, time stands still. He watches me as I watch him. Two more hours to just past sunset I stand, then sit by an adjoining tree and watch and photograph this beautiful, amazing bird! He scratches, he spreads his wings, he looks down at me. He leans his head against a branch and closes his eye and naps. All along I watch and photograph, mesmerized.
At one point, the little owl gifts me unknowingly. He shakes himself and one of his down feathers cames off and floats down from the tree right to my outstretched hand! So soft. Amazing.
My delight in birds is all-inclusive. Another morning, I spend watching pigeons, quail, and sparrows by my friend’s water feature. I was equally enthralled to watch pigeons, as I am to watch songbirds or cranes. They peck and kiss and put their heads together, then the male mounts the female and spreads his wings, looking like an angel! This is in stark contrast to watching waterfowl hold their mate’s head underwater while mating!
I4 years prior in Costa Rica, I and 9 other photographers creep through the jungle, where earlier in the day we found vipers, to photograph bats. Bats are not birds, but they fly and feed like birds. Being in the dark jungle to view them is nothing but breathtaking and exhilarating! This takes quite a bit of set up of lasers to trip camera flashes as the bat fly past the laser beam! I hear them and feel the breeze from their wings, but can not see until the flash fires.
Hummingbirds delight birdwatchers of all ages. One knows spring is here when the first hummingbird appears. They dart here and there, have ferocious appetites, and defend their feeding territory fiercely. In New Mexico, there are 17 species of hummingbirds. In Costa Rica, there are 50 species of hummingbirds! The biggest thrill is standing on a 25-foot ladder watching a mother hummingbird feed her baby in a nest across from me! Se watches me for 30 minutes, before deciding it is safe to feed her baby while I am nearby.
"God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages." Jacques Deval
Perhaps my sharing my passion for bird photography will help more people enjoy birds in their natural habitat rather than caging them or killing them for feathers and trophies.
