You, Too, Can Be Amazing

Dear friends,

I've got some wisdom to lay on you. And this Royal Tern is very happy about it!

Lorde says you'll never be royal, apparently despite your name. So, give it up.

And so is this American Oystercatcher!

Serious orange crush with eyeliner. Go a little easy next time, sister.

Whereas this American Coot wants nothing to do with me:

The coot, also known as the Jesus Christ Bird

We're back in Napa, with 2 days of downtime/work before our "adventure" to the Sax Zim Bog Birding Festival in cold-as-freaking-Hell Duluth, MN. I can't wait, he said drolly, for Saturday morning with its forecast morning temp of -9F, or a should-be-illegal -29F with windchill.

But, for now, let us forget about the future, and sip from our Bulleit Rye Manhattan (the official cocktail of BirdSee'd) while we reflect on what we have learned from the past 6 weeks.

Many believe bird watching to be a gentle form of recreation, often involving overstuffed lounge chairs positioned strategically near, but not too near, a fully-stocked bird feeder and the consumption of mimosas. For those who call themselves, "Bird Watchers," this is sadly true.

However, those that call themselves "Birders" know differently. We know that Birding is a War of Attrition. In the face of physical discomfort, weak birders scamper away, whimpering about mimosas. Strong Birders Persevere.

We persevere in the face of nasty weather, as has been previously documented on this blog. We did not quit.

We persevere in the face of the absence of birds. For instance, on Saturday, we waited 6 freaking hours for a stupidly rare (in North America) White-Throated Thrush to show up at the place where nearly everybody else in the world saw the dumb bird for the two days before, only to come up empty-handed. We did not quit.

We even persevere in the face of odor. For instance, to find the Chihuahuan Raven, we paid a visit to the aromatic Brownsville Sanitary Landfill. We went up on the mountain of garbage (sadly the only mountain for hundreds of miles) to find this scene:

Oh, my

Were our olfactory senses gravely offended? Oh yes. Did we find our bird? As quickly as we could. Did we quit? Actually, yes, after this we went straight to the hotel for showers and detox. But, in our minds, we did not quit, just paused.

Your homework is to reflect on the value of Perseverance, and write a 500-word essay on how your life would be better with more of it.

Until next time,
Me