Thursday, February 05, 2009

Best Birding Moments

I've been playing around with the idea of getting more posts going on Cerulean Sky by starting a new feature titled Best Birding Moments. Every birder has fond memories of their experiences. It can be something as simple as finally seeing your nemesis bird of 7 years or something more profound like being moved by the beauty of your natural surroundings.

When I think of my best birding moments, a few immediately come to mind: my first Prothonotary Warbler on the Tilden Trail, finding the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers of Apalachicola National Forest in Florida, a rainy day in May when a fallout occurred in Kopegaron Woods and the warblers were so abundant I couldn't keep up with identifying each individual.

In other cases, my best birding moments are simply cherished memories. Something that immediately comes to mind is when I was younger and I could call Marianne to go for a walk to the bridge and we'd talk for hours on end about birds. Or the carefree days in spring when the two of us would lay side by side in a field, watching the sky as male Horned Larks performed their displays above our heads, and try to pick which one we thought the female would select as her mate.

There are other fond moments I look forward to sharing. With my current work schedule and the hustle and bustle of Toronto, it's often easy to forget how truly passionate I am about birding. I hope these posts will spark a reminder of just how important it is for me to get out there more often and appreciate it.

2 comments:

Backcountry Balkwills said...

Remember that Horned Lark we were watching forever, waiting for it to dive and then it did like 5 feet above the earth!? ......lame...lol

Jeremy Hatt said...

That was the most anti-climactic Horned Lark dive of ALL time. We must have waited 10 minutes for it, too! That female must have been so put off.