It's about time! I mean, as in the subject matter of today's lecture, not "finally". And if you were looking for the lecture about thyme, then you should head to the next building over for the "Six Shocking Things You Didn't Know About Common Herbs" class.
Let's start with a deep thought: Time Matters, Or Sometimes It Doesn't.
Shall we unpack this a bit?
Like you, birds have a schedule, a routine, a bit of semper idem, if you will. (And note that all good Professors must inject a little Latin periodically, to show our general superiority to the student.)
So, knowing the habits of a particular bird can both help bring it into view and save you a pile of your own time not spent looking when the bird is not then. (speaking in deliberately obtuse sentences, +1 General Superiority)
Examples, you ask? Quippe ubi. (+1 GS)
In my last adventure, I wanted to find a Crissal Thrasher. These secretive birds of the Southwest lurk about in thick thickets of mesquite, and are easiest to find when they are calling. When do they call? Usually at dawn or dusk, so I started hiking at Catalina State Park near Tucson shortly after dawn and wandered through mesquite-y areas until I found one perched at the top of a tree, singing its brains out.
Night is a good time for Poorwills, other members of Caprimulgidae, and Owls. But do you have to stay up until the sun peeps above the horizon to find one? No! Capri's will often start calling just after dusk, when they begin to go about their night's activities. For instance, in Cave Creek, on the east side of Arizona, I saw a report of a Mexican Whip-poor-will. That evening, I drove to the site of the report at dusk, stepped outside the car, and waited. Within 15 minutes after sunset, the bird started calling, called for a few minutes, and then stopped, and I didn't hear it the rest of the night.
Now, in some cases, time matters less. Some birds are active all day around where they live, or perch in particular places. So, to find a Rosy-faced Lovebird, I went to a Phoenix park where they were known to reside, and even though the temperature was a sweltering 95F and the time was around 2PM, I found them flying from tree to tree, squawking loudly, within 10 minutes.
That said, finding a bird still requires good fortune, although you can amplify your fortune by how often you try. I have been birding for 15 years, spending untold hours in the field and hiking uncounted miles of trails, and until last week, had not seen a Mountain Quail. That drought ended when, standing in a remote desert canyon near an oasis at dawn, a momma quail and her three quail-lets flew down from the nearby hillside to forage nearby. The more time you spend in the field, the more likely you are to find what you want.
To recap, our prior lesson explained the importance of knowing WHERE a bird is likely to be, and this lesson teaches the importance of knowing WHEN it's likely to be there, and that looking MORE OFTEN increases your chances of success.
Mathematically, then, the probability P that you will find a bird can be expressed as:
A = P(a bird is absent)
B = P(a bird is hidden)
C = Number of times you attempt to see the bird
P(Finding a bird) = 1 - (A*B)^C (gratuitous use of math, +1 GS)Live according to this formula, and finding birds will be that much easier.
One-minus-A-times-B-to-the-C, y'all!
-- Dr. Say
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