I think it was Ian Paulsen who asked the other day if he's the only one not
off madly searching for some of the current vagrants such as the eider and
the stint. No, you're not. I didn't go off twitching the geese that were
hanging around Gray's Harbor in the spring, either.

How come? I've done my share of chasing rarities. Several years ago, I
made a successful dash to Bellingham and Vancouver, B.C., to find a
Brambling and then a Dusky Thrush, and got both of them. I went after a
Ross's Gull on the Columbia, a Great Gray Owl somewhere up north, and missed
finding a Fork-tailed Flycatcher down southwest. But I haven't gone off
twitching rarities for several years now. One reason is that I only keep
one serious list, my overall life list, divided geographically. Finding a
vagrant in Washington doesn't add anything to a Washington list or a year's
list because I don't keep those. Another reason is the feeling that I'd
much rather see one of these birds in its more accustomed place within its
normal geographic range. I saw a note on Birdchat reflecting that feeling;
there's been a Red-footed Falcon in Mass., though I see there's some dispute
about its identity; one fellow wrote that he was not going to try to find it
because he had seen them in Europe, where they breed. I've only had a
limited time so far to go birding on other continents, but I've loved
getting acquainted with the most common avifauna of Europe and Japan. I
love the sense there that I'm learning about the ecology of each region. I
loved seeing many Dusky Thrushes in Japan, where they replace our Robin
geographically and ecologically and even behaviorally; it was much more
important to me than finding that one Dusky Thrush outside Vancouver, though
I was happy at the time to add it to my life list. My one trip to Alaska
was not a birding trip, and I only saw a few new birds. But I want to go
back there and see lots of eiders, of all species, in their native habitats.
Maybe this is a reflection of my age, or of my satisfaction with our little
habitat here on the shore of Long Lake, where I can see so much without
leaving the house; but it just doesn't seem worth it to drive a hundred
miles or more, to get hot and tired, to spend even the gas money, to see one
lonely little bird. So I hope y'all have fun, and success, but I'm not
likely to be there.

Burt Guttman guttmanb at evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 360-456-8447
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S.E., Olympia 98503