Ten thousand hours of birding (Vignettes)
On Jan 12 2012 I decided to keep a dairy of my birding adventures. I am not too sure why. I had read somewhere that devoting that amount of practice to anything is akin to being an apprentice. I only counted the amount of time I actually birded. I made numerous cryptic notes from which I am drawing on to make this account.
Day 1 April 2 2012
I had been visiting Campbell Valley Park which is close to my home. I photographed Ring-necked Ducks, Mallards, Fox and Song Sparrows, a Brown Creeper, a Northern Flicker, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees and a Cooper's Hawk. I hadn't yet started using eBird but was birding everyday. I was transitioning into 'retirement' after thirty years of being a community newspaper photographer.
100 Hours. May 12 2012. Okanagan Valley, BC. Canada
I birded the Okanagan Valley for the first time. The terrain, the weather and the birds were so different from the Lower Mainland. The Okanagan was a revelation. I had seven lifers that day. Mountain Chickadee, Say's Phoebe, Calliope Hummingbird, Pygmy Nuthatch, California Quail, Yellow-breasted Chat and Lark Sparrow. I birded 12 hours a day for five days.
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| Calliope Hummingbird |
I had read online that an American Kestrel was catching grasshoppers along the dyke. Sure enough the bird was there, flying down to the ditch every few minutes, reappearing with a grasshopper. A behaviour I hadn't seen before or since. I'm glad I made the effort. My dairy does not mention any other details so I presume I went straight home and there not much else to see.
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| American Kestrel. |
2500 Hours Feb 8 2016 Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary
I had a Northern Saw-whet Owl at Reifel then over to Brunswick Point for Western Meadowlarks and Brant. Finally a short drive to Boundary Bay to photograph Short-eared Owls. I appears that during this time I was on a mission to photograph as many of the Lower Mainland species as I could. I had recently upgraded my camera gear to a 500mm F 4 lens which was far better although much heavier than the 300mm F4. Those images are a good as anything I am doing now with newer technology.
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| Northern Saw-whet Owl |
5000 hours July 29 2019 RSPB Frampton, Lincolnshire UK.
I met up with a Birding Pal John Clarkson from Louth. His UK list is in the mid five-hundreds, a really a dedicated twitcher and brilliant birder. We have since birded together on several occasions. Less than ideal conditions and time of year but we did find a Turtle Dove in the scope, a lifer. I still want to see one close-up. Unfortunately the species may not have too much time left due to habitat destruction in Africa. I shot some excellent video of an Oystercatcher feeding a chick.
Later in the day we stopped at Red Hill (Chalk Hills) and picked up a Yellowhammer, another bird that is barely hanging on due to intensive industrial farming. Other good birds that day were Ringed-Plover and Wood Sandpiper. We dipped on a Willow Tit for the third time.
7500 Hours Island 22/Bamford Rd Dec 31/ 2021 Chilliwack -5c
There was a howling wind at Island 22. The Fraser River almost frozen over. My notes don't mention what particular species I was looking for at Island 22 but afterwards I drove to Banford Rd where I dipped on Snow Buntings. It was the last day of my 2021 Fraser Valley Big Year with no new birds to add to the two-hundred and six species that I had seen during the year. It was a tremendous amount of fun birding and discovering new birding spots like the Columbia Valley, Island 22 and Chilliwack Mountain. I also made many friends in the Fraser Valley birding community whose help and advice I am forever grateful.
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| A frozen Fraser River/Island 22. |
10000 Hours Deception Island, Antarctic Peninsular. Nov 7 2024
Sailed overnight from Elephant Island South Georgia to Deception Island on the Antarctic Peninsula . There were several species of albatross as well as Snow Petrels and Southern Fulmars, Whales included Sei, Humpback and Right. We photographing their flukes for later identification and passed files onto the resident biologist. None of the whales breached but we did have Hourglass Porpoises following the ship.
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| Snow Petrel. |
I have now stopped logging the hours. The memories stored away in thirteen diaries, a reminder of my birding adventures, the places, people and birds I encountered.
Just for the record 10,000 hours is 417 days or 1.1408 years.
"It's never too late to start a journal"
John Gordon (JOGO)
Langley/Cloverdale
