Birding Intro

Got to chatting with a couple of serious birders at breakfast the other day. They invited me to go birding with them Monday morning (today). Apparently Steve and Nancy Z. lead birding groups regularly at Cataina State Park in Tucson, and have birded all over the country. Yup, serious and knowledgeable birders. Little did I know just how serious and knowledgeable.

The destination of choice today was the Holy Trinity Monastary at St. David, Nevada, just a few miles down Hwy 80. Much of their property along the banks of the San Pedro river is maintained as a bird habitat. So off the three of us go, binoculars in tow. By chance we meet another birder, Deb, from Colorado, who also had a spotting scope. (Apparently the brand of choice for birding optics is Swarovski Optik.)

The birding started in the parking lot next to a pond. Birds were in view almost immediately. Observations about shape, color, bill and beak shape and color, flight patterns, song, call or cry, started flying around my ears and eyes. Nancy showed me almost instantly the bird book listing for each species we saw. I was generally playing catch up, where, where?? The three of them would all point their binoculars at a certain spot, so I'd get the general idea, and look there too. Sometimes, I'd actually see the bird. Deb's spotting scope came in handy for birds too far away to see in detail. I did see a lovely cardinal first. I was very proud. Cardinals are bright red and stand out like a fire engine! They were all three very gracious and helpful to a birding newbie tagalong.

Part of our walk was through a dense old growth cottonwood woods. Although we didn't get a good look at them, we startled what they agreed were two large owls. The discussion about what species they could have been was lively.  I just listened, having been duly impressed merely by their silent flyby. We were trying to be stealthy through the undergrowth, looking probably like a bunch of Groucho Marx immitators. Suddenly they all snatched their binoculars from their chest harnesses up to their faces, and all looked in unison to one location in the woods.  I couldn't see what they were looking at, but their unanimous choreography was priceless.  They excused me for bursting out laughing.

What a great introduction to birding. I had the priveledge of being in a very small group, the rest of whom knew whereof they spoke, they were very kind, and I had a wonderful time. Just might have to try this pursuit again in the course of my wanderings.