Birds in the marsh

As I told my cat, there were birds in the water, in the brush, in the trees, in the sky, on the ground. They were in all directions. And some were singing. That is all you need to know. But, if you want more, hitch alongside an Audubon group walk.

This walk was here, the morning of February 20th.

You will at minimum connect with water, rocks, sky, spirit, other forms of life. If this is the minimum of any activity, do it.

Bird watching is not just for old people. Our leaders were, in my terms, punk. It was funny; I liked it.

They brought spotting scopes and bird books and ears for which to decipher specific songs.

We saw ducks, geese, sparrows, swallows, meadowlarks, red-wing blackbirds, hawks, herons, egrets, kinglets, chickadees, and many more that I do not remember.

“Don’t assume they are all geese,” was one bit of advice. Sometimes other birds are mixed in! My favorite duck today was the pintail. They have pointy little tails.

I may have only grasped 30% of what was conveyed. Still, that’s better than 0%!

For example, we stopped and saw a something-something and it’s gone now. But, it was there a second ago!

We all had sensible shoes on, mostly rubber. Aside from looking for birds, it was nice to walk with people who like to watch birds. They are peaceful. They are nice. They are quiet.

A tree swallow flew over. Everyone was delighted. I crave the company of delighted people. The swallow, we were told, makes a watery, burbly sound. Makes sense, it is around water so much.

You will learn more in an hour with real-live bird watchers than a month with a bird book.

When I didn’t know what was going on, I just held up my binoculars, stared into space and tried to look natural.

News: Just got this list of all the birds we saw. They are listed in the order that they appeared to us.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk 

Canada Goose

Red-wigned Blackbird

Common Raven 

Gadwall

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail 

Golden-crowned Sparrow 

Bufflehead 

Ring-necked Duck 

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow 

Western Meadowlark 

Great Egret 

Yellow-rumped Warbler 

Mallard

Killdeer

Black Phoebe 

Greater Yellowlegs

American Coot

Northern Harrier

American Robin 

American Crow 

Marsh Wren 

Tree Swallow

Great Blue Heron 

Northern Flicker

American Kestrel 

Bald Eagle 

Wilson’s Snipe

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 

Black-capped Chickadee 

California Scrub-jay 

House Finch

Cackling Goose 

Lincoln’s Sparrow 

Hooded Merganser