Hello Fellow Tweets,

I recently resubscribed after a few months of being out of state
working and traveling. The forum is quite different these days. Tweeters
these days seems to mostly consist of interminable lists. I think most
would agree that best part about lists is the making of them, the thrill of
the hunt so to speak. We get to exercise our senses of sight, hearing, and
mental experience. It's exhilarating and we all love to do it. In
twitching up a LIST, all birds are equal, a Starling, or chickadee is worth
the same as a Green Heron, one more species! When I look at someone else's
list however, the excitement pales. Reading a list is not usually a
learning experience for me.
Perhaps we should just mention the highlights (a few of the best
species, interesting behavior observed, unusual numbers, possibly it's
important if a common species wasn't seen, and a mention of total species
observed, etc), and leave off the common birds. We could send the complete
lists somewhere else to an accessible list archive. (Please, no offense to
the many list contributors, I'd be happy to help you make one sometime or to
send you some of mine. ;)
Frankly, I miss the discussions of the finer points of birding
identification, plumage variations, vocalizations, habitat, behavior, etc.
How about it, let's hear some more behavioral stories. I know I saw all
kinds of cool things this summer.
Tweeters is a wonderful forum. Between all of us there is a vast pool
of knowledge and talent which we should tap into and use to inspire and help
each other to become better birders.
As for Larks, while birding Ocean Shores a couple weeks ago I saw the
subspecies E. a. sierrae Horned Lark lurking in the beach grass at Damon
Point.
It had the yellow throat and canary yellow belly, a stunning bird. Where do
they breed, where do they winter, what do we know about them?

Mary Teesdale
Bellingham, Wa
mteesdale at hotmail.com




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