A return to birding

COVID-19 has changed everything for me. It has been one of the rare moments in my adult life where I have had a second to breathe and reassess everything. I’ve reconnected with family and friends, started eating better, bought a bike and lost 12 lbs. However, there was one reconnection that meant the most to me.

I became a birder on my ninth birthday. My mom gave me a pair of binoculars, a bird book and put a bird feeder in front of my window. After that, much of my childhood was spent with my eyes fixed on the feeder, hoping that a bird I had never seen before would show up for me to ID.

As I got older, I moved away from birding. Mainly because I was trying to shed the things I thought made me nerdy, and I may have dropped my binoculars one too many times. When I went to college at Ohio State University, I majored in Fisheries and Wildlife Management. After taking an Ornithology class, I finally came to my senses and realized that birding was cool, for a select group of people. I joined the Ornithology club and went on trips to birding hotspots throughout the Midwest. When I graduated, my pursuit of a career in avian biology (although unsuccessful) took me to Hawaii, Oregon and New York.

Eventually, I traded in birds for plants after finding stable employment in Hilo, Hawai’i. After adding all the living native species to my life list, I lost my fervor for birding there. It was depressing to know how many birds went extinct after European contact, and the ones that still exist are at risk of extinction due to declining habitat and introduced avian malaria. Most of all, I just missed not knowing which birds you might see.

Long story short, I found my way back to Houston after learning my mom was terminally ill. Once the dust settled, COVID hit.

In the last few months, I have started going birding again. It is once again exciting, and the perfect social distancing activity. I feel the need to venture farther and farther out of the city to see a greater variety of species. I feel true to myself but, most of all, I feel like am honoring the one who put the binoculars in my hands: my mom.

By Royce Daniels

(The birds in the photos are being handled for research purposes.)

Comments

How to DIY a Dripper for birds

Are you running out of home projects to keep busy during the quarantine? Here’s one my hubby made for me that you can try: a DYI Dripper. I’ve long wanted a bird dripper to complement my yard’s wildlife habitat, and with spring migrants on the way, I was keen to provide a drip that will attract new birds that don’t visit feeders. I had a problem though. There is no water line or power source near my feeders. The idea of stringing a hose or wire across the driveway just isn’t practical. Enter the engineer. My husband thought about the location and the limitations for a bit, and came up with the concept of sourcing water for a dripper off the sprinkler system. By using a toilet tank that fills every time the sprinklers run, water can be constantly available for the drip. I nixed the idea of a toilet tank sitting in my yard though, so he made some aesthetic modifications by installing a toilet tank float inside a 5 gallon bucket hidden inside a custom wooden box with a handsome copper p...

Beak of the Week - Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron ( Nyctanassa violacea ) Family: Ardeidae Our Beak of the Week is the official Bird of Houston , the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron! This seemingly hunch-backed bird can be a difficult one to spot. Both species of North American night-herons, yellow-crowned and black-crowned, forage mainly at night and spend most of the day hidden among branches near a body of water. These two birds can be differentiated easily by their plumage on and around their head. The most obvious difference is stated in their names: Yellow-crowned Night-Herons have a yellow crown and Black-crowned Night-Herons have a black crown. But that’s not the only difference! Yellow-crowned Night-Herons have a black head and face with a distinct thick white cheek stripe, whereas Black-crowned Night-Herons have a black head with gray on their face that extends down the whole front of the body. Yellow-crowned Night Herons also have a gray front and neck, but it contrasts greatly with their facial patter...

Beak of the Week - Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird ( Archilochus colubris ) Family: Trochilidae Did you know that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are able to fly in all 6 directions with wing beats of 53 times per a second? Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are bright emerald or golden-green on the back and crown with gray-white underparts. Males have a brilliant iridescent red throat while females and immatures have fine, dark throat streaking. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of red or orange tubular flowers as well as at hummingbird feeders and sometimes tree sap. Hummingbirds also catch insects in midair or pull them out of spider webs. In preparation for their migration, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds double their weight from 3 grams to over 6 grams prior to departing. In the fall, millions of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will pass through Texas on their migration to points south of the border with many crossing the Gulf of Mexico in a single flight. They arrive from breeding grounds as far away as Nova Scotia...

Houston Audublog

Search This Blog