birding

I see predominantly picture posts here, but I wonder if text posts have a place too. I think it would be cool to share memorable birding experiences. A few come to mind for me.

This spring I saw my first Whooping Crane. I grew up in the migration path and went looking every year. I'd seen millions of sandhill cranes. Hundreds of white spots that turned out only to be two snow geese flying together or a plastic bag waving on a corn stalk. This spring I visited my home town and it happened to be during the migration. My two year old loves birds, so I thought he'd like to see so many birds at once. Unfortunately he was more interested in sitting in the truck while I looked at birds. On the way back home, a quarter mile before getting on the highway, I saw a white spec in a field, pulled over in a farmers drive way and just knew it was it. Thirty years later, I'd finally found one. Crossing it off in the index of my Sibley's was one of the most cathartic experiences of my life.

Another experience I love is the first time I saw California condors. My family visited the Grand Canyon, and I knew there was a chance to see them. When we got there they were flying so close and I couldn't even speak. My mom still tells of me pointing and saying "C-c-c-condors!".

My grandma is the one that got me into birding. She took me on a trip to an eagle count at a lake a few hours away. We saw many eagles that day. I also saw a great horned owl in broad daylight, which I've yet to see again; I remember how yellow it's eyes were. At the end of the day we stopped at the dam and my grandma put her spotting scope on some mallards and other ducks sitting around a section of open water. While I was watching, an Eagle came up and flew right over the dam, only a few dozen feet over head, then swooped down and crushed the mallard in the spotting scope so easily. We stayed and watched it eat until it was run off by other eagles that came for an easy meal.