I am sure we have all heard that saying of old or even used it ourselves once in a while, casually in a shallow conversation and never really reflecting upon its meaning.
But look at it: it's not all there is to it, nope, yet again, let me repeat this: again, we are left there standing with a half-true, purely deceptive, lame and pretty much useless chunk of words that leaves us feeling as if we were putting on a trouser with only one leg or had just watched the Luneau video.
Surely time flies when you're out there enjoying yourself but it also flies when you are up to your neck in work!! And I don't mean this kind of work.
See, that's what happened: no post since last Tuesday because of work!
Lame excuse?
Well maybe, but I tried really hard to distract from this dumb excuse by writing about a lame saying.
I know it didn't work out too well, but like in birdwatching: it's the effort that counts, not the observation (yeah, right).
I like being a birder. And as a matter of fact, my work sometimes even includes birding of some sort. Now, I wouldn't go as far as saying I sometimes like my work, but it isn't all black and gloomy all of the time.
You see I was so busy because I had to finish a report on a Breeding Bird Survey I did last summer in this kind of landscape...
...where amongst many others I saw this kind of bird:
... a beautiful male Whinchat,or saw numerous birds of this kind, the much-loved Yellowhammer:
Analysing numbers on density and relative abundance never matches the excitement out in the field, but the memories of Great Grey Shrikes, Ortolan Buntings, breeding Cranes, 5 species of Sylvia-Warblers, Red-backed Shrikes, Partridges and Quails all help to make it through a rainy Michigan day in front of your computer in January.
Well I wasn't being entirely honest here, I must confess: Wednesday was still rather pleasant weather-wise and as I had promised myself the day before, I went to the Arb, and from the Arb through Fuller Park back home.
Nice stuff.
Life can't be bad if you come home from a short walk, having seen
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,
Hairy Woodpeckers,
Red-tailed Hawks,
Northern Cardinals,
Tufted Titmice,
Eastern Bluebirds,
White-breasted Nuthatches,
Blue Jays and
White-throated Sparrows
and basically can say to yourself that you haven't seen anything special.
Oh, and apart from Bluebirds, Sapsuckers and Sparrows, I also thought this was really a more than excellent find in the last few days (I can't link to it directly, stupid MySpace, but here's how to get there):
go here, scroll down to his "friends", visit "Bird Girl" and click on "You might be a birder if..."
OK, this was it for today. Not very thought-provoking but hopefully your time flew because you were having fun - somehow. If not, please come back later, I promise to write something more entertaining and possibly even - gasp - remotely intelligent soon.
Cheers and good birding over the Weekend!
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