2009 Hobbies 1 Birdwatching .............................................................
In North America it's known as 'birding.' In latterday England it's 'twitching'. Whatever it's called there seems to be an element of 'difference' to the hobby and it tends to be the object of no little fun-making.
We lived in Enfield, Nova Scotia, in 1976. Evening Grosbeaks started it all. She asked the local Catholic priest in the Post Office about them. I gave her Robie Tufts' book "Birds of Nova Scotia" for Christmas. Binoculars were bought and for twenty one years we birdwatched.
Nova Scotia is home to well over 300 bird species and I managed to clock perhaps 130 of those in my ornithological time. Just our property in Shubenacadie was passed through and over by over 100.
During our year in England I think bird-watching was perhaps near the top of the enjoyments. Again 300+ species and I just managed to reach 100 in that year.
Returning to Canada and becoming 'city dwellers' I think ended my serious birdwatching. That's a bit of a cop-out maybe but, after Shuby's 'deep in the contry' and village life in England, a high rise apartment in down-town Halifax just isn't a nature paradise.
In the dozen years since that apartment dwelling I've lost a lot of knowledge, I no longer carry binoculars all the time, I no longer keep meticulous records. But ..... I still watch for the arriving migrants and thrill to rarities in the back yard or round the lake.
There seem to be far less birds over the last decade - less in numbers and less in variety. I fear the human race with it passion for "development" and "expansion" is destroying habitat and the little guys will simply decline steadily. How much poorer we shall be! Glad I watched 'em while I did.
Shuby:
The Pileated Woodpeckers raising families in the dead elms at the bottom of our garden.
The almost uncountable flock of lovely, yellow Evening Grosbeaks that fed endlessly on our sunflower seeds.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at the feeder behind the house.
A motionless Great Blue Heron hunting frogs in our garden pond.
Bald Eagles soaring high, high above.
The one sighting of a brilliant Scarlet Tanager.
A Yellow Bellied Sapsucker who hammered every year on the rusty 'Private' sign on the maple.
Bobolinks in the 'top field'.
Mourning Doves pecking grit in the driveway.
Yellow Shafted Flickers (my favourites) attacking the ants nests in the garden.
and that's just ten pictures in my memory .....................
England:
Wonderful place for Tits! Blue, Long Tailed, Great.
Horned Grebes tearing about the ponds.
Watching Kingfishers from a hide at Slimbridge.
The Bewick Swans, again at Slimbridge, newly arrived on their migration fromRussia.
Robins (real English ones), seemingly everywhere.
Pied Wagtails with their ever-twitching tails.
Blackbirds, sooty black with bright yellow beaks - really thrushes.
Magpies swooping, strutting, curious.
Moorhens and Coots along the canals.
Bullfinches with their rosy chests.
................... I love/loved the hobby. Somehow I stopped being really active at it and, damn it, I miss it.
