"Birds know themselves not to be at the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone's horizon sweeps someone else's. We are only noticed on the edge of things; but on the edge of things, we notice much."
― Gregory Maguire
Saturday was a regular birding day ― time spent specifically looking to pad my 2022 list, though I am nowhere near Dane County's Most Reliable Birders. Look at that! 200+ checklists and 90+ species. That's, like, 3 checklists per day. Oh, I shouldn't yuk someone's yum, but don't folks have any other hobbies? Back when I was a habitual FOMO chaser, I think I typically submitted somewhere between 200 and 250 checklists per year, but this is only day 65 of 2022.
Anyway, I visited Pope Farm, Pheasant Branch, and a few other spots in the Middleton area. My effort yielded first-of-year Killdeer, Rusty Blackbird, Common Grackle, Northern Flicker, and Carolina Wren. I was hoping for Eastern Bluebirds at Pope Farm, but did not detect any. I thought I also might find a Winter Wren at Pheasant Branch, but I only covered the east leg of the creek corridor as stormy weather was threatening from the west.
When a Tufted Titmouse began singing, I thought it might entice the Carolina Wren ― and it did. This is just an anecdotal observation, but it seems the Carolina Wren's song must drown everything else out. On a calm morning, I can hear the boisterous wren singing from a quarter mile away down the creek corridor. That's a powerful voice for a smalls songbird!
Killdeer numbers were impressive at Pope Farm Conservancy. In fact, a few fly-over flocks were some of the largest I've ever observed. Fun now, but the early spring arrivals are eventually relegated to trash bird status once the neotropticals move in. Years ago, I once heard a politician say as North American bird populations decline, birding will become more interesting ― common birds will eventually become rarities. Just think of that, eh? One day even Killdeer might become chase-worthy in the US. I think this sentiment speaks to the disconnect Scott Weidensaul has written about between today's birders and birds.
From his 2008 book Of a Feather, Weidensaul writes:
"And yet, I would argue that birding itself has become a decidedly more superficial activity than it was in the days of Wilson or Coues, of Florence Merriam and Mabel Osgood Wright, or even Roger Peterson and the lads of the Bronx County Bird Club. It’s true that we know far more about birds, as ornithology probes deep into genes and stable isotopes, ferreting out the secrets of metabolism or migration. But where the public’s interest was once driven by a fundamental curiosity about birds, and a basic joy at their existence, today it seems (for many of its practitioners) that birding is simply another outlet for frenzied hyperactivity. I don’t see that our concern for birds has kept pace with our involvement with them as objects; we depend upon them for our amusement and our excitement, but for many birders, the sense of reciprocity, of obligation to the birds themselves, is missing."
And:
"For many years, I’ve harbored a growing unease and frustration at the disconnect between the burgeoning enthusiasm for birding and a pervasive apathy about the birds themselves, as organisms in their own right, whose protection and preservation should be among our highest priorities. As the World Series shows, hot-shot birding and conservation needn’t be mutually exclusive—and yet a lot of birders seem to treat the latter as a distraction, honored more in the breach than in daily practice. They seem to forget that without a commitment to avian conservation, birding is a dead-end street."
Yeah. I think he's right ― this is true.
Taking the time to appreciate the first of spring American Robin in my courtyard ...
Or an ordinary (but actually extraordinary) Cedar Waxwing ...
Can you look upon them with new eyes each time you see them? Or is it all (or mostly) about being in 1st Place? The Top 10? The Top 100? You won't see my counts there. Do you possess the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)? The "anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on social media." Isn't it interesting how similarly this generic definition reflects today's bird reporting tools and chaser sentiment? Do you have to drop everything you were doing to get the bird(s) you think you need to see? Birds don't need you to see them; but they do need you to give more to avian conservation. Otherwise, in a few decades, birding will be even more exciting with rendered "rarities" as populations continue to dive.
Middleton Area, Wisconsin
March 5th, 2022:
Canada Goose
Mallard
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Horned Lark
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
European Starling
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
House Finch
Common Redpoll
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle
Northern Cardinal
All images © 2022 Mike McDowell