Paul et al.,
There was a time when I thought I knew a lot more about birds and birds in
Oregon than I know now (I'm not channeling Yogi Berra here). I may have for a
brief time even accepted the notion that Plumbeous Vireo is a
regularly-occurring bird in Oregon. When I was a comparatively new birder, the
listing opportunities were many. Virtually any trip to a corner of Oregon that
I had not previously visited was sure to add a few new birds to my state list.
I had a blast as I scurried back and forth across the state chasing my way to
400 species and beyond. I met a lot of fun people, made several lifelong
friends and I even learned a little about the birds I was seeing. At the time I
thought I new a lot, but I was wrong.
As time went on I came up against the point of diminishing prospects for new
state birds. About that same time I started meeting birders whose interests in
status and distribution, vagrancy patterns, molt, weather, vegetation
communities and the finer points of identifying birds was far beyond mine.
Discussions with these folks left me with all sorts of questions. They were not
only questions for which I did not have answers, they were questions that I had
never even considered. Over time I found that pondering such questions and
generating my own unique set of questions and then going in search of answers
for those added a new layer of joy to my birding activities. Remarkably, every
new answer still leads to two or three new questions. The more I learn, the
more I realize how much I don't know.
Birding has never been more fun for me than it is right now. There is always a
new place to explore and I can be assured that almost every new birder that I
meet has the potential to pose a question that will send me off on a previously
unexplored tangent. It's not tedious, it's not painful and there is no
judgement in it. It's just the way I look at birds. On those rare occasions
when I get to add a new bird to my Oregon list, I still get a charge out of it.
Sometimes I chase and dip, but it rarely elicits more than a few moments of
disappointment because every trip into the field is an opportunity to learn
something new. I will continue to try to initiate discussions and generate
debate in this forum and perhaps get others to join in the pondering of such
questions. I will do it for my own enjoyment and perhaps inspire others to find
the joy that comes with learning something new and discovering that you don't
know as much as you thought you did.
Dave
Non-Curmudgeon
