This post is not about stuff you use to bird, it is about what it takes to be a birder. Wearing Bins does not make you a birder, although it is quite likely someone would mistake you for one. To me (and everyone probably has a different definition) being a birder means having a fascination with birds. Although typically there is some listing involved, it is about the BIRDS! My holy grail is not the Terek Sandpiper (a Mega-find that flew in last month), it is spending five minutes connect with an individual bird.
Yesterday I got a new bird out at the Ninigret Mud-Flats -- a Little Blue Heron (which is ironically white as a juvenile). The bird was so far away that he was a blurry speck on my photos. My joy in the trip came from the little peeps (Least & Semipalmated Sandpipers) who were practically underfoot. I was able to look them in the eye and I believe they looked back. We had one little one follow us around like we were his mother. That is why I bird. It's not the bins or the lists. It's the birds.
There is a concept called Patch birding where you bird in the same small territory all the time. You get know it. You get to know the birds and they get to know you. When I am alone at Quonnie in the mornings, the birds get very close to me. I am part of the furniture -- this is what I love. My life is richer because of these connections.
I should add that because I am at Quonnie so much and a few weeks ago I spotted a desirable bird (Black Skimmer) one morning and lots of people cared about that. Now all the birders know I'm there and folks will ask (via GroupMe) what is going on there -- makes me feel part of the team. You don't want to always be chasing birds other people found, you want make a contribution -- the only way to do that is to go place you don't know if there a new bird.
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