Usually it works the other way around. You go to visit someplace new, and you’re the one taking pictures. Although lately, it seems the visitors have been the subject of the photos.
A lot of people have been in the area looking for a gray-crowned rosy finch. It’s a rather uncommon bird in the area. In fact, this could be the only time one has been sighted around here. And dozens of people have been flocking here looking for the bird.
I like checking out birds, but I don’t usually go looking for any one in particular. It may be something I take up as a hobby at some point, but as of now, my interest is more from the point of view that I like to know what I see around me. So I have several bird books and when I see something different, I try to find out what it is I’ve seen. And it really is interesting what you can spot, just observing what is around us.
We tend to get a few different ones every year, and those who are truly serious birders will go out of there way to see them and get pictures if possible. It does make me wonder what the bird might be thinking. Maybe it liked the attention. Or maybe it was just hoping for a nice quiet getaway along the shore.
There have been a few different birds that have caused quite a stir over the past couple years. A Steller’s Sea Eagle was hanging around parts of the province the last year or two. They are also known as a Pacific Sea Eagle, so just from the name you might be able to tell it’s not from around here. And also this week, a Western Meadowlark was spotted in the Grand Pre area.
It might be a surprise that birds usually found in the west find their way here, but I suppose anyone can get blown of course a bit. And some are just expanding their range. Like my nemesis, the turkey vulture. I have been hoping to see one. I’m told they are everywhere. I’m pretty sure I have even heard one close by. But I still have yet to see one in person.
It is interesting when things not native to the area appear around here. But in this case, they’re birds. They have wings, so why not travel a bit. See the world.
Although with all the attention the gray-crowned rosy finch has been getting. For some reason I have a picture in my head that when all the people with cameras go away, there is a little bird that pulls out a map, studies it and says to himself, “I knew I should have hung a left at Albuquerque”.
