New Year, New Blog

With the start of a new year, I decided to start a new blog that is much more focused than anything I have tried before. I was thinking about what I should write about when something happened yesterday on the way to Walmart, of all places, that led me to where I am now; but more about that in a minute. I decided I would write about birds; more specifically, my experiences watching and photographing them.

I call this blog 'An Accidental Birder' because I don't recall making a conscious decision to become one. I have always liked birds and have always enjoyed the sight of a large raptor sailing the thermals, looking for its next meal; or even catching sight of something small and yellow flitting between the trees. Birds have always interested me, but my current enthusiasm began with reading Under A Wild Sky by William Souder, a biography of John James Audubon, for a book group. Every member of the group would nominate books to read. Each member would then rank the list is order of interest, with the book they were most interested in reading having the highest points (say, 5 points for the the one you wanted to read most if there were five books listed). We used this system to choose what we would read, and each month, after completing the book, we would get together to discuss and and have an activity organized by the member who nominated the book. Sometimes these activities were related to the book, sometimes not, but it was always an enjoyable time. I miss it.

For this particular May, after reading about Audubon, it seemed only natural to do some bird watching. We piled into Joe's van, bought some KFC (Audubon used to eat many of the birds he shot for study, so this seemed like appropriate fare), and drove out to the levee between Utah Lake and Provo City Airport to see what we could spot. On that trip, we saw barn swallows, mallards, a kingbird, brown-headed cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds, as some American coots, as I recall. One of the best sightings came near the end of our excursion. Not long after talking about how Brandon had never seen an owl, and many of us sharing the owl sightings we had had in the past, we noticed something in the middle of the road, staring into the car's headlights. It was not very big, and made no effort to move from the road. As we approached closer, we could soon tell that the creature staring at us was a burrowing owl; the first any of us had seen. It was a great way to end what was a very enjoyable evening. It also planted the birding seed in me.

Prior to this adventure, I had never been out to the levee; I had not even known it existed. Now it has become a favourite haunt whenever it is passable. It took awhile for me to return a second time, but when my wife and I drove out the following November, we saw a beautiful red-tailed hawk in the trees above the road. At that point I think I was finally hooked. The hawk was an incredible sight. He sat up in the tree looking right at me for a few moments as I took pictures of him. He seemed unconcerned by my presence, and I was careful to give him no reason to feel threatened. It was an incredible moment.

The Red-tailed Hawk, looking right at me

My fascination with birding got another boost when I met Bob last year. Bob is a friend of our landlords upstairs, and while we had informally met some time ago, we became better acquainted last spring. My wife and I were just heading out for a trip to the levee when Bob came out with his binoculars. He saw my camera bag and made a comment about us heading out and I told him we were going down by the lake to look for birds. He was quite pleased to meet fellow enthusiasts. He had just been heading into the back yard to watch for birds there as he was working on his own 'Big Year'. Needless to say, we have become quite good friends with he and his wife. We have taken Bob down to the lake with us on several occasions and hope to visit them soon at their home in California. It is always fun to compare notes and share sitings.

Now back to what made me decide to do this blog. Early yesterday morning, while driving with my wife to the Springville Walmart in the snow, I noticed a large bird flying the opposite direction. The closer we got, the bigger the bird seemed. Though the snow was dictating a slow pace, I slowed even more in order to get a better look at this large creature majestically flying through the snow as if it was totally unconcerned. We soon realized that we were looking at a bald eagle. I have never wished I had my camera as much as I did at that moment. He was an amazing sight, gliding through the snow-filled air not more than 100 feet above the ground. It is not often that a trip to Walmart yields such a rewarding experience. That was when I decided that I would write a blog about my bird adventures.

Also contributing to my decision is the fact that this year we are actually seeing a real winter, complete with frigid temperatures and a blanket of white that has been with us since before Christmas. Knowing how difficult the conditions are for the birds that are still around, I decided that I would place some seed in a plastic bowl near our front door. We only rent, so I have not hung a feeder, but I may put something in our part of the garden we share as soon as I can afford it. So far, response has been quite good to the seed bowl, though I would like to see less of the cat that the bird activity has attracted. It seems like such a small thing to provide some extra food for these small creatures, and we have even attracted a few Dark-eyed Juncos in addition to the sparrows. Who knows what will turn up next.

I am also keeping a list of all the birds I see this year. It's not really anything you would call a 'Big Year', but I thought it would be interesting to see how many species I see in a single year. I'll share my list as I add to it.

There we have it for now. A new blog begun, with more to come.