It can be a gradual thing. But things do change. Sometimes, it takes you by surprise.
This past Saturday was a lovely afternoon. A friend and I sat around, after spending a couple hours on the lake trying to catch a bass or two, sipping on a cold beverage and talking.
We have known each other since… well… it’s been a while. Let’s leave it at that. In the past, we may have sat around talking about cars or boats or fishing lures or any number of “guy” things. But on Saturday afternoon, the topic turned to birds.
This is mainly because a different looking little bird happened to by and sit right in front of us. It wasn’t hiding. It was right in plain sight, sitting on a small bush about three feet away. It did pop in and out on various branches, but generally stayed fairly close for a good amount of time. It allowed us to get a pretty good look. Which also allowed us to come up with several possibilities for a possible identification.
My friend claimed it was a vireo. I claimed it was a warbler of some type. The discussion continued, the birds books came out as did further beverages.
We never did make a final determination. Neither of us are hard core birders, but we dabble. It’s nice to know what’s around us. In this case, it was actually right in front of our faces. It may have known that we were trying to figure out what it was. My friend is still stuck on it being a red eyed vireo. I’m still saying a female black throated blue warbler. The bird is probably laughing at us.
In past years, we may have spent our time discussing whether the Jays had any shot at the playoffs, or if the Habs were strong enough to make another deep run this year. But no. Saturday was spent talking about birds.
We can blame Covid. Say it’s the time spent in isolation that changed things. But I have the feeling we may just be maturing. Just a touch.
I’m sure our twenty year old selves would be worried about us.
