come bird watching with me

So what the fuck is bird watching?

Great question, I'm glad you asked. The first time someone asked me if I wanted to go bird watching I imagined a bunch of people with binoculars standing around staring at a tree. While this is definitely part of what happens, it's not the whole story. Here's the best way I know how to explain it: bird watching is like Pokemon. You've got your Pokedex (bird ID book), Pokeballs (notebook), and a hot redhead in suspenders who follows you around with an egg-baby... Wait no, I'm thinking of the other thing.

Anyway, it's basically a nature hike but instead of talking about your sex life with your girlfriends you're trying to figure out if that blob on the tree is a pine cone or that bird that everyone but you has seen a hundred times because it hides behind a branch and snickers every time you pass by. Also, you're never going to see an owl. Get that out of your head right now. You will want so badly to see an owl because they are the coolest thing out there but if you go with your heart set on one you will see literally every other kind of bird there is. The only place you are going to see an owl is when you are on the freeway by the airport or as a final omen before your death or something. So yeah, we didn't see one.

But the sun was out and it was gorgeous. Our mossy trees looked like some sort of fairy wonderland the way they always do.

We were up on a hill so there was a bit of a view sometimes.

Not exactly a wildflower "super bloom" but still nice and green.

Misty, Brock and Ash.

If you've read this far, may God have mercy on your soul because the rest is a list of the birds that we saw today (in order of appearance).

Spotted Towhee

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Anna's Hummingbird

Violet-green Swallow

Orange-crowned Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Bewick's Wren

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)

 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

Steller's Jay

Red-tailed Hawk

Rufus Hummingbird

Red-breasted Nuthatch

American Bushtit

Hutton's Vireo

Turkey Vulture

Mourning Dove

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Northern Flicker

Song Sparrow

We got about 20 species in three hours, which isn't bad considering we were there in the afternoon rather than the morning (I'm not what you would call an "early riser"). Also, this might be the first time I've gone birding without a hangover, which was nice. It's not that I always have a hangover on Saturday mornings, it's just that the times I do have one, also happen to be the times when we've committed to bird-watching in the morning. And you wouldn't think it, but it's actually pretty exhausting. After all that walking around and differentiating between birds and clumps of moss and unleashing our pasty Oregon skin to the sun's rays I'm pretty much annihilated. So here's to you, dear reader for encouraging me to sit up if not to actually get up out of my bed. Maybe I can convince Alex to get me a glass of water or something. I'll keep you posted.