Here around Christmas, the birding listserv lights up with the Christmas Birds Counts for the region. It is amazing to me the amount of time and level of dedication that these birders put forth. For the Big Sur region, the team counted 132 different species of bird. That’s amazing! The Santa Cruz area has reported 170 species. In the same way the botanists complain that people just see a “green blur” when they look upon a forest of any section of land, ornithologists never understand how people can miss seeing so many amazing birds when just out on a jolly jaunt around town. Especially in Monterey County, which is the “birdiest” county in all of California. For one of my classes this semester, we went on many field trips. We were supposed to be looking for vertebrates, and in the car ride back to campus, I would overhear people saying how the only vertebrate they saw was the dog someone was walking. I will have counted 17 different species of bird on that same trip. It’s seems like you have to be trained to see what’s there right in front of you, and you also have to want to see it. I always feel camaraderie when I’m with birders. We all have the same passion for birds, and we all see things that same way. But I also believe it is important to try and share and teach what you know, to anyone who is interested. So I am always happy to help out novice birders or slyly educate random passerbys about a bird I’m looking at. They can take the information or leave it. I think that having something you are intrinsically passionate about and you strive to learn more about is a very important for a person’s mental health. It encourages lifelong learning.
Your Birder Friend 