{"id":3468,"date":"2011-02-15T15:08:07","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T22:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/?p=3468"},"modified":"2018-04-07T21:29:05","modified_gmt":"2018-04-08T04:29:05","slug":"twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/15\/twice\/","title":{"rendered":"Twice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a secret to seeing birds, a trick that could be passed from generation to binoculared generation?<\/p>\n

Fact is, “technique” has a lot less to do with it than persistence. For decades now, I’ve been in the habit of doing everything twice. And though I may not quite double my morning’s list that way, I do see a lot of birds I missed the first time through.<\/p>\n

Today, for example, I took a late morning’s stroll through Jericho Park. My first pass turned up several of the birds I’d been hoping to see–Eurasian Wigeon, Hooded Merganser, Sooty Fox Sparrow<\/strong>–but there had to be more. Right?<\/p>\n

I think sometimes that the first hour of some birding days is wasted, or at least spent, just getting in the mood. Not to go all new-agey, but there’s a certain state of receptivity a birder has to slip into, a paradoxical combination of passivity and lynx-eyed awareness; sometimes you’re ready the moment you step outside, sometimes it takes you (or at least me) a little while to attain full birder mode.<\/p>\n

On my way west through the park this morning, I’d seen a small gathering of House Finches, Red-shafted Flickers, <\/strong>and European Starlings <\/strong>at a puddle, and decided to check it again an hour later on the way back. I must have got into “the zone,” because this time there were 150 fringillids including dozens of American Goldfinches <\/strong>and a few Pine Siskins<\/strong>, three Downy Woodpeckers <\/strong>and a very fancy Red-breasted Sapsucker<\/strong>, and miscellaneous hangers-on from Oregon Junco <\/strong>to Varied Thrush<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It was like that the rest of the way back to the parking lot. What had looked\u00a0 like this when I started out<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

was now this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And bare branches<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

were suddenly populated with Ruby-crowned Kinglets, <\/strong>a Hutton’s Vireo, Pacific Wrens<\/strong>, and this fine Brown Creeper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If it hadn’t been cold and windy, a third time around might have paid off!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a secret to seeing birds, a trick that could be passed from generation to binoculared generation? Fact is, “technique” has a lot less to do with it than persistence. For decades now, I’ve been in the habit of doing everything twice. And though I may not quite double … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Twice”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3468"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6950,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3468\/revisions\/6950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}