Birding May -hem

Birding is all about priorities.

It may (ah, again, the word) have been different a few years ago, but with the onset of digital photography and blogging, things changed, including the May ... whoops ... way we bird.

Back then it was all about grabbing your binoculars and walking the wild to see what you could find. Today, there are basically three distinct ways of birding, because it is not only about that which we go out to seek and see anymore but also about how we document and communicate about it.

These are today's three Mayn ... no ... main birding categories:

a) Go out to look for birds

b) Go out to take pictures of birds (missing out on the opportunity of seeing more birds because you hang around the once you've found already)

c) Stay indoors to bird virtually and blog about birding (missing out on the opportunity of actually seeing any birds)


Some readers might not quite realize where I am residing at the moment, those that complain about a recent drop in blogging since last Friday for example, or possibly even a slight lack of intellectuality that's been first noticed in my posts on November 30, 2006.

Well, sorry to tell you folks but this is the Great Lakes, this is where spring migration happens!! It happens in May, and - let me check my calendar - yepp, it's just about that time: MAY !!

And this - May - is precisely where the priorities thing kicks in:

No birding brakes around the Great Lakes

I will try and keep up the blogging pace with the birding race but it looks grim because the birding looks fantastic at the moment and - yes, shame - my birding priorities currently hover somewhere between the above mentioned points a) and b) .

You don't believe me when I May ... oh ... say that the birding is too Maymazing to stay indoors and blog?

Okay fine, you asked for it so here you have it, a few examples (not the best shots, just a few teasers) of the past four days when my wife and I rented a car and went to Dolph Park in Ann Arbor (Friday and Saturday), Rondeau Provincial Park in Ontario (Sunday) and I went to Crane Creek and Metzger Marsh, Ohio (Monday). All of these birding excursions will definitely - hopefully - maybe - soon be small posts of their own but now I first have to scan through roughly 1.000 images taken over the last few days, so give me some time while I give you these:

Gray Catbird - Dolph Park, Ann Arbor (Michigan)

Blue Jay, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario

Black-throated Blue Warbler, Crane Creek State Park, Ohio