« Wedding Budgets: Not A Laughing Matter | Main | Strandings & Distressed Marine Mammals in Santa Cruz County »

February 1, 2006

The Reluctant Bird Buff (Avian Admirer?)

I don't like birds, or rather, I didn't like birds. Until I went to Africa.

In Africa, they call our American excuses for birds LBJ's: Little Brown Jobs. And they have every right to. The birds of Africa are big, colorful and loud - like this pair of bee-eaters. One even has a dragonfly in it's beak.

It's funny how once you've been to Africa, you see wildlife in a completely different light. Shane is always shaking his head at me because I can now spot a lone deer, an 1/8th of a mile away on a golden California foothill, while whizzing by in 75mph traffic. And I spot the birds. The big raptors crusing high above and diving for their meals and stalk the tiniest hummingbird around my neighborhood.

I never liked birds before Africa. This probably had something to do with the fact that one of my friend's friends had a little pet bird, some sort of parakeet-type job. She was a complete nightmare, very possessive of her boy, and attacked any woman who entered the house. And while she was inflicting pain, that bitchy 3 inches of feathers, I just wanted to smack her. Yes I know, that's a very nature-wildlife loving attitude. But dammit it hurt and the guy wouldn't let me even push her aside.

But Africa has awesome birds. Birds that swoop down and gobble up gigantic fish. Fish eagles, flamingos, spoonbills, among others. And the little jobs, they have such character. The hornbills are so inquisitive, just like in Disney's Lion King. The kingfishers do their kamikaze dives from 2 stories up. The lourie performs its crazy play dead mating dance and the male masked weaver frantically builds a nest only to have the female come in and tear it to pieces if she doesn't like him. The drama of the African avian community is better than cable TV! I reluctantly became an avian admirer.

But now I'm home again, and my eyes are sharper. On the drive to my grandmother's house in Chico, CA, I make us stop at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge - and I catch a glimpse of a bald eagle in the wild, amongst other raptors and rodents.

Last week, I was hiking in Año Nuevo State Reserve in Santa Cruz county and came across what I believe to be a Cooper's Hawk. And it's ironic. I walked down the nature trail, and when I saw the hawk, I stopped to watch it swoop about. And despite the fact that I was one of probably 15 people walking along that stretch of trail at the time, no one else stopped until I pulled out my camera with it's obvious long lens and started shooting. Then suddenly people were stopping and gasping and pointing and showing their kids. And all this, only a hundred feet away or so.

What is it with Americans, always in a hurry to get from point A to point B, even on a nature walk. It's like it's a bloody race. Whereas in Africa, it was more like a kid's pokemon collecting: Gotta Catch 'Em All, identify them and mark the species on my little checklist.

Posted by sorsha at February 1, 2006 9:59 PM