The recent postings on the importance of paying attention to detail
reminded me of an earlier birding experience that I had which I will
share. Not long after I had moved to Utah (1986), I saw and reported a
Palm Warbler on the Utah Rare Bird Hot Line (that I manage today).
Previously, I had seen the Palm Warbler in Georgia. Since this was my
first experience living in the Inter-mountain West, I did not
realize how rare a Palm Warbler sighting would be in Utah, especially in
winter (January).
Terry Sadler (Hot Line Manager then) called me to verify the
sighting. Craig Kneedy (since deceased) came out to verify the
bird. He was doing a Big Year and was then the current record holder
for a Big Year. With some trepidation, I started walking with
Craig from my Farmington home to the nearby spot where I had seen this
warbler. I was hoping that it would be there, so Craig would not
think me an idiot.
Fortunately, the bird was there. It was feeding on small aquatic
insects along a spring that traverses an irrigation ditch on the USU
Botanical Gardens property that bordered mine. I felt instant relief,
seeing the bird. Then I felt pride that I had discovered this Utah
rarity. "There it is," I said, pointing to it. "Where", Craig
asked me? I then gave as detailed an explanation of the birds
location, as we birders can. "You see that clod of mud, next to the
Wilson's Snipe," I said. "Go to the right, and it is sitting along
side of the stream edge, next to the leaves, clinging to that piece of barb
wire," I explained.
"Do you see it," I asked him. Craig answered me, "No, not
yet." Then he asked me, "Is it near that American Water Pipit?"
"Pipit," I said. "Pipit!" Later when relating that story
to my family, my son Billy told me that we would have to move right away,
since this embarrassment would haunt us forever.
Hopefully, that experience has made me a better observer of birds,
since I decided not to move. Being an idiot who can easily fit two
feet in his mouth has never deterred me from continuing to bird. I
enjoy all of the birds, those I can identify and those I think that
I am seeing. Local birder, Jack Rensel (one of the best field
birders that I have ever met) once told of group of birders that I was with,
after someone called a bird that was quite some distance away (it may have
even been me), "where the eyes fail us, the imagination takes over."
Enjoy the birds. Work on your observation skills but have fun and
don't worry about calling them, as you see them. Kenn Kaufman who
doesn't keep a life list, answered a question I once asked him about the
rules for keeping a life list. "Bill", he said, "always remember that
it is your list, so you get to make the rules."
Regards,
Bill
Fenimore
Wild Bird Center
1860 North 1000 West
Layton UT
84041-1858
(801) 525-8400 Store
(801) 699-9330
Cellular
www.wildbirdcenter.com/stores/lay