There was steam rising over the river this morning when I bundled up to go for my first ever birdcounting expedition. I figured I'd see the chickadees who hang out around the river bank,
I'd likely hear a woodpecker, and I wanted to count some hardy Saskatoon Winter Ducks (after my morning's research, I'm going to call them Common Goldeneyes).
Watching the birds often makes me think of my mom. She paid attention to them. Noticed who was around, and when the sparrows were fighting over the bird houses in their back yard. She and Dad made sure to have lots of food out for them. I don't think she ever participated in a great backyard bird count. But I'm pretty sure she would have enjoyed it... and laughed at her oldest daughter taking such an interest in birds.
So I walked my favorite path to the river, and stood on the bank with Randy's telephoto lens, one glove off to try to focus on the Goldeneyes playing in the water, among the morning mists.
Thinking of Lydia. Thinking of a God who sees each sparrow - master of the bird count.
It was a good morning.
My count, as submitted through ebird.org:
# of taxa reported:7
protocol: traveling
duration: 55 minutes
distance: 1.18 km
10 common goldeneyes
1 downy woodpecker
1 blue jay
4 common raven
6 black-capped chickadee
6 house sparrow
2 house finches (I heard a bird high up in a blue spruce but couldn't see it, so I turned on my audio, and the counting app added 2 house finches to my count. I accept this interpretation of my reality, though I cannot visually prove it!)
