Hey tweets, To answer Joe's question, I don't wait for a quality bird
as FOY because if I did, it would *always* be a crow (due to a lack of
confidence in my birding-by-ear skills, I do visuals only for FOY).
Crows have their fans, but I am not a big one. To avoid having one
crow year after another, my husband and I engage in long discussions
in late December about which strategy we should pursue to see a bird
before the crow tide flows out of the current roost at 7:29 a.m.

This year, he told me he has been seeing a "fluffy, fuzzy, owly kind
of thing" fly out from a tiny nook between the beams of the CUH
building in the early mornings. John is not a birder by choice or by
nature: he loves to watch birds' behavior but cares nothing about
identifying species. You might say his lack of interest in listing is
zen-like in its purity. While I admire his dedication to ideals, I
have to admit it's frustrating at times, too. This Jan. 1 was one of
those times, when it would have been great if he had been able to
provide a few more details about his nook bird. Somehow, I'm guessing
that the WOS records committee would hesitate about accepting "owly
kind of thing" as a good field mark. On the other hand, John's
description was good enough to determine our plan for FOY: get to the
CUH before first light and try to identify what was lurking in the nook.

So there we were in the dead of a dark Jan. 1 morning, creeping up on
the CUH building as silently as we could, dressed in dark clothing,
with a flashlight and various optics strewn about our persons. My best
hope was that none of the neighbors would report us to security
(remembering the eco-terrorists who set the building on fire some
years ago). I get so nervous when questioned by authority figures. I
start to babble, and the more I babble, the more suspicious I appear.
Been there, done that - no desire to repeat.

Anyway, despite our stealth, no one was at home in the nook, so there
we stood, plan shot to pieces. Now what? We headed over to the Lagoon
to look for ducks, but the night was so dark even my Nikons couldn't
pick up enough photons to make out a bird from a buoy. We decamped to
the New Wooden Bridge to discuss. There, in the brightness of the
light standards, were 5 Pied-billed Grebes paddling around in the
puddle of orange light shining on the water. Great birds, no
gendarmes, and a whole day of surprises still ahead. Who could ask for
more? - Connie, Seattle


On Jan 1, 2012, at 1:57 PM, Mechejmch wrote:

> I can only wonder....how many of us wait for a "quality bird" to
> list as our FOY?
>
> Always curious,
> Joe Meche
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

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