Bird Watching vs. BIRD Watching

--> Perhaps I have discussed this before; the difference between being a bird watcher; someone who keeps lists of birds seen, has the best equipment and is willing to travel great distances if a rare bird has been spotted vs. a bird watcher who is more interested in watching the bird, whatever kind it is, just to see what it is up to.   I fall into the latter camp.  I have always been drawn to animal behavior, any animal, and with birds being ever about, their behavior is most often on display.

This isn’t to imply I always understand what I am seeing, but I delight in the serendipity of happening to look at the right time to catch some odd little bit of bird life in progress.  Last week, I heard a chirping commotion and saw, rather startlingly, a group of about 12 young House sparrows hopping in and out of flowerpots that are on my deck.  They seemed to be squabbling over dusting rights, but although I know they love a dust bath, I just couldn’t imagine them trying to take one in a crowded pot.  Or that so many of them would be trying to crowd into pots filled with the very scratchy asparagus ferns. 

As it turned out, I wasn’t the only one drawn to this noisy and odd little party they were having.  A squirrel that likes to drape itself over the railing on hot days decided to hop over and have a look.  Then came a young female cardinal, followed by a white-winged dove.  What an audience these noisy sparrows had gathered!  They ignored all of us and just kept hopping in and out of the pots, chirping and being as excited as they could be about this little bit of sport.  It must have gone on for about a half hour, when they all decided to leave as quickly as they came.  A very entertaining bit of bird watching indeed. 

Since then, I have seen round depressions in the sandy area next to the garden which I am guessing might be a place they discovered to be more suitable for a dust bath.  With so little rain there is no lack of areas to dust up in, but as they had all looked like juveniles, it might have just taken them a while to figure that out.  Just like the young Titmice that like to perch on the hummingbird feeder thinking, “everyone else is doing it, why not me too”.

Then there was the other morning, when going out to feed the birds at sunrise, I saw the silhouette of a bird accompanied by the loudest cicada buzz.  I realized that it had just caught the unlucky insect and it wasn’t going to do down without a lot of complaining.  As I stayed to watch, a scrub jay flew by and IT had a cicada too.  Coming around the back of the house I couldn’t believe it, there was a third bird with a buzzing insect in its beak.  Speak about a breakfast “special” going on!  Unlikely I will ever see that again, but there it was, three times in a row. 

If ever you are looking for a wonderful read from a like-minded bird watcher, may I recommend my very, favorite of all, bird behavior books, “Private Lives of Garden Birds” by Calvin Simonds.  He writes with great humor and knowledge about the most common of birds, but it’s all focused on what they do, not where you might find them.  He even manages to write fondly about the English sparrow that most of us dread having as a resident in our yard.  I had to get my car fixed yesterday and I spent the entire time in the waiting room reading this book again and loving it.

Now, don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with checking the little box next to the birds name in your bird book index, and hoping to see something new.  It’s surely is exciting to get a chance to see any species new to you.  It is what I have loved about moving; even the most common bird can be uncommon to you if its not found in your area.  But I would encourage you to do a little “looking” whenever you can.  I have always said we can take a hike and be lost in our thoughts and see nothing, but if on that hike you decide to actually pay attention and look around you would be amazed at how much there is to see.  Anywhere.  City, forest, suburbia; if you look, you are bound to see something.   I took a short walk to a coffee shop in San Antonio while I waited for my car, and what did I see?

 A dragonfly wing, evidence of a meal recently eaten by some bird, and a sign that said, “Vampire facelifts”!  Who knew?  Bird watcher or bird watcher; it pays to look around.