Birdwatching - I Guess I'm Officially OLD

 

Well, I guess I'm officially old.  Isn't birdwatching an "old folks" thing?  

I sit on my dock, and I watch the birds.  I sit on my porch, and I watch the birds.  Even when I'm driving or sitting outside on my break at work, I'm still watching the birds.  I feed the birds.  I listen to the birds.

If I'm outside and someone else is with me and I see or hear a bird, I'm like, "Oh look, there's a red-shouldered hawk!"  Or, "Oh, that sounds like a Carolina wren!"  And then there's my favorite, the little factoids I like to throw around, such as "Did you know that crows remember faces and hold grudges, and can even pass those grudges down through generations?"

I sit on my dock for HOURS with my old Sony a100 DSLR camera and try to catch that "perfect shot"... of birds!  I'm even researching new, better compatible lenses for my nineteen-year-old camera so that I can capture better distance photos of the fishing birds, such as the osprey, American bald eagles, belted kingfishers and the egrets and herons while they are in action.  I have more photos of BIRDS from the past two years on my phone and computer than all of the other photos COMBINED.

I downloaded an app on my phone to help identify birds by their calls and songs or by photo, so that I can tell the difference between all of the birds that I come across.

*By the way, if you are also interested in birds, you can get the MerlinID app for your phone and identify the birds in your environment too.  MerlinID is easy to use, and is totally FREE to use, though they do run on donations like most educational apps, but that is completely up to you.

SO many birds!  Living on this lake has brought me so much joy in the simple pleasures in my life.  The peaceful solitude of just sitting in nature and enjoying my avian neighbors is what I consider a "good time" these days.