EVOLUTION OF A BIRDWATCHER

BIRD WATCHERS! I’m sure you’ve sen them out in nature…with their binoculars glued to their eyes…. pointing…waving…jumping up and down as if they’re constantly surprised! They often dress alike…they flock together…filled with a shared one-love… For years I found them easy to spot…and easy to make fun of. Over the years, however, I’ve seen a subtle change in my outlook and attitude… Now, whenever I see a bird in nature…I’m filled with gratitude. I discovered the more I walked in nature…where birds are all around I began to recognize some of them…from their sight and from their sound. I’ve even gone as far as to buy myself a bird-watcher book… and a good pair of binoculars…you know…to get a closer look. The other morning on Honeymoon Island gazing through my binoculars at another island…out of reach I screamed to Deborah, who was next to me…”There’s an eagle on that beach!” Did I mention Deborah also into this birdwatching life has grown… She didn’t need to borrow mine…she has binoculars of her own. We were mesmerized by that eagle who stood there without a flutter or a fuss… Who did not need binoculars to see the two of us. When he noticed people on his beach as the sun lit up the day I’m pretty sure he nodded to us…before he gracefully flew away. That was the highlight but not the extent of our birdwatching…as many other birds flew our way. In fact we recognized by sight or sound…20 other birds that day. Red-winged blackbirds, pelicans, laughing gulls…egrets, plovers and a host of other birds before our walk was over. As I was writing down the names of all the birds we saw…for a moment I became numb because I realized, in that moment, what I have become. Those birdwatchers who when I was younger I would ridicule and condemn… I realized that morning…I am one of them. A proud birdwatcher who often finds himself awestruck…without words whenever I get to walk in nature…or share a sunrise with the birds.