Paying Attention

For me, learning to bird is not as much a lesson in plumages, songs and behavior as it is in observation. Whenever I try to identify a bird after seeing it, my success depends on how much I noticed about the bird. What color are its legs? Did it have a long, short, thick, thin, curved or straight bill? I have come light-years from where I started, but I still feel like a heel when I stare at a bird for ten minutes and then can't remember much of anything when I finally have my Sibley.

Today I watched a couple of kingbirds having a little spat and realized that I've never noticed what they sound like--they're squeaky little guys! But I still wouldn't be able to tell you for sure what it was if I heard it again. My auditory attention still needs a little sharpening.

As I drove home from Wal-Mart, my eyes were drawn upward to some carelessly careening fellows overhead. Their long, slender wings with bright white bars actually registered on my psyche (they would NOT have done that two or three years ago). The careless flight hit play on my minidisk and the words echoed in my brain from the first time I saw the boys see Common Nighthawks. Are you kidding? Of COURSE I didn't see them myself. That happened a lot at the beginning--no, wait, it still happens a lot. Anyway, the recording in my brain said, "They fly really spastically so it's easy to tell them from a long way off." Thankfully, these were not a long way off; their flight and wingbars made it all official. Common Nighthawks are conducting reconnaissance in Stephenville.

But I had to bring my eyes back to the road and get home to my Sibley to make sure. One step at a time.