07.29.08
Posted in Birding at 8:29 pm by finatic
Over the past weekend I made a trip to the San Diego Bird and Butterfly Garden in the hopes of photographing the migrating Selasphorus species Hummingbirds. Both the Rufous and Allen’s Hummingbirds are very similar in appearance, but my understanding is that current migrants are most likely Allen’s.
After finding a few cooperative birds I was amazed to watch a battle over territory between a migrant Allen’s Hummingbird and a native Anna’s Hummingbird. The Allen’s would sit on a branch while the Anna’s would repeatedly dive at it while screaming. No matter how hard the Anna’s tried, it couldn’t convince the interloping migrant to leave.
I have often watched hummingbirds chase each other away, but the ferocity of the Anna’s was something that I hadn’t seen before. I’m not sure if it was because they were different species or not, but it was great to watch.
See some photos here.
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07.20.08
Posted in Birding at 8:41 pm by finatic
Hi, my name is BJ and I am a birder.
It all started innocently enough. My wife and I were taking a stroll on Torrey Pines State Beach and we heard a raptor calling from the cliffs. I snapped a few photos and figured it was a hawk, but I didn’t know what kind and wanted to find out.
To this point I had spent my photographic excursions on, in, and under the waves. I had never really taken the time to look at the different species of birds that were around me. After all, a gull was a gull, right?
After spending a little bit of time online, I was able to identify my mystery bird as a Peregrine Falcon. I was stunned to read that they could reach speeds over 200 miles per hour. Wow, not only had I snapped some photos of a cool-looking bird, but it was an amazing one at that. I was happy with my photos, but still not a birder.
I started devoting some of my time on my beach walks to photographing the shore birds. I started to notice that all the little birds were different, and that there seemed to be differences in the gulls, too. As I had always tried to identify what ocean animal I was photographing (good idea when in the ocean), I naturally extended this to my new bird photographs. Though I was taking shots of the “beach” birds, I still wasn’t a birder.
I stumbled across the Yahoo group “SD Birds” and joined up. Thought that if there were birds at locations, there must be other wildlife to be found. I would just piggyback on the birding group in order to learn of wildlife-loaded areas. I didn’t know what a YEWA was and didn’t care, or at least I thought I didn’t. Even though I was now a part of a birding group, I still wasn’t birder.
I took a trip out to the San Diego River estuary to try and get some shots of the mullet jumping out of the water. I noticed an almost-solid-blue Heron-looking bird on the rocks and took some shots. I watched it for a while and saw it grab and eat an crab. Wow, how cool! I spent some time looking around the web and finally identified the bird: Little Blue Heron. I went out and bought a field guide to use to determine what type of bird I was photographing, but that didn’t make me a birder.
Fall migration started up and so did the reports of rarities. So many people on the group were getting really excited that I thought I would chase after a few of the reports – only for a few photos though. Finding warblers and flycatchers, ducks and geese, hawks and falcons started to become a weekend routine. I was reading reports, chasing birds, taking photos, and meeting people in the birding community but still didn’t think that I was birder. Though I now knew that a YEWA was a Yellow Warbler, put a sparrow in front of me in the desert and it was still only a sparrow. I didn’t know enough to be a birder so I couldn’t be a birder.
By now I wanted to be a birder but didn’t think I could be one because I was having a hell of time with many identifications, although more and more came easily. I began talking to people who considered themselves birders and I learned that they simply tried to make the best identification possible. You don’t have to be able to identify every bird that flies by in order to be a birder. You just need to spend some time watching birds. Identifications will come with time. Take the time to look at how the bird acts. Each species has a unique way of walking and flying and hunting. Enjoyment of watching birds is enough to consider oneself a birder.
I fought admitting this for a while, but the truth is that I am a birder and am proud of it. I still misidentify birds. Though my primary goal is still taking quality photographs of wildlife (definitely including birds), I don’t mind sitting back and just watching the birds do their thing when the lighting is wrong or they are too far away for my camera.
So I am a BIRDER.
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