Feeder Birds

I have noticed that you have three main types of birdwatchers. You have your feeder watchers, those with yard birds that they adore. And then you have your die hard tickers, listers, twitchers who are out in the hotspot of the day picking up new birds. Somewhere in between are the birders like myself. I love a rarity when I see it but I think twice before rushing out of work to go find something new. Actually, more often than not I may wait a few days, even though the bird may leave, before I embark on a trip to see it. And if the distance is more than I'm willing to drive, I miss it altogether, something a hard nosed lister would never do.

Living in this in between area and above, I feel that many birders overlook the common birds. They may not even look twice at a Blue Jay or Northern Cardinal. I have friends who seem to loathe the Great Blue Herons just because they are at every turn of the head, shwag birds we call them. But there's something about the feeder birds that I really love. Maybe it's the bright colors or maybe it's just their crazy feeding fights but whatever it is, I really adore the common birds. So even though I am prone to chase a few birds here and there, maybe even revolve my vacations around seeing new birds, I'm glad that I have common birds like the ones in this post that greet me when I come home. It doesn't hurt that my yard birds are just as likely to be a Spot-breasted Oriole as a cardinal but that's a different story altogether.

Photos by Bill Kominsky, used with permission.