Pat Bean's blog

Western sandpiper ... photo courtesy Wikimedia

I was sitting with my binoculars atop a canyon overlook of the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park watching a western sandpiper make its way along the river’s shore. It would occasionally disappear behind a rock but soon appear on the other side as it slowly made a steady trek up the river’s edge.

 As I delighted in watching this small creature, a car pulled up near me and I became aware that a woman was eagerly scanning the direction I was looking. After awhile, she got out of her vehicle and came over to where I was sitting.

 “OK. I give up. What are you looking at,” she impatiently asked. ”

A sandpiper there on the shore.” I pointed in its direction, expecting her to take a look. I would even have shared my binoculars with her if she had showed some interest. To my surprise, however, she was annoyed.

 “Oh poo! she said. “I was looking for real animals. Like a moose, or an elk.”

She then got back in her car and sped off. The truth is I’ve seen more of what this woman considered “real” creatures since becoming an avid birder than ever before. For one thing, I’m in the outdoors more often, thereby increasing my chances to see elk, rabbits, antelope, squirrels, beavers, marmots and foxes. And while looking through binoculars or a scope for a tiny bird off in the distance there is no way I’m going to miss the five deer feeding on a hillside, or the porcupine curled among tree branches in a a tree that’s hosting a dozen red-winged blackbirds.

 My late-blooming passion for birds has been Mother’s Nature’s special gift to me. My wish to each of you for the new year is that you find your own special passions in life – and be wise enough to know that birds are “real creatures,” as well.