Where have I been?
A quick visit to Montezuma Wildlife Preserve
Let’s see, where did I leave off… oh yes I started writing about why I love Tommy Thompson Park, started writing about the Spring Migration, and then finally started writing about my new love of Bird Photography. Never published any of those, and then disappeared until now. Among the people that have read this blog (I think there’s about 6 of you), 3 have asked me where I’ve been. The other three didn’t even appear to notice my absence, but a 50% follow up rate is pretty good. So let me take a moment to explain my failure to write and post it here. I think there are three reasons:
I was busy. I know, we’re all busy. That delightful little period of the pandemic where someone invited you to do something, and you just shrugged and said “no thank you, Covid reasons”, has passed. There’s things to do now, and part of this hobby was born out of a period when there weren't things to do, and it’s a little sad it’s over, but not too sad because I love doing things! Also my other Covid hobby, making new children, has resulted in me having a one year old AND there’s another baby on the way. Figuring out how to balance kids and writing is going to be a long term struggle until they grow up, I retire, or some combination of both (like I win the lottery?)
Bird Photography became a big thing. It started with me looking through my binoculars with an iPhone. I took a couple good pictures and just loved how I could bring home an image of what I saw instead of just telling people about it. Then I bought a camera and loved how I could go home and spend more time properly identifying different species. Then I started really appreciating wildlife photographers and their art, and I fell down a rabbit hole of studying photography and trying to make the most out of the pictures I took. I was so hooked that I stopped writing and spent all my time editing photos. The limited free time I have went from being spent on Microsoft Word to Adobe Lightroom. At least I’ve started updating the gallery page to include new photos!
Summer birding is boring, hot, buggy, and sometimes weird. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I’ve never really liked summer birding. After the spring migration passes, the trees and bushes grow leaves and it’s really hard to see through a forest. You can still hear lots of birds, but I’m not good enough to actually identify that way, and I really like to see them! Add the fact that it’s hot, and there’s a bunch of bugs biting you, and all of a sudden it’s downright unpleasant. Now you might say I’m inexperienced, that I’m missing the beautiful shorebirds that arrive, and they’re on the coast so it’s cool and breezy which keeps the bugs away and helps to regulate your body temperature. Well to that I say, I’ve gotten some pretty weird looks from people at the beach when I bust out binoculars or a telephoto lens and start taking pictures. I’m not going to explain to the two women sunbathing on the beach that the seagull behind them is actually a Bonaparte’s Gull and pretty rare around here, because even if I did I don’t think it would help the situation. Maybe it’s also weird in the dead of winter, but at least there’s no one around to judge!
So what’s next for comebirdingwithme.com? Well I’m not going to stop prioritizing photography because I love it. Oh and there’s the kids too, they’re also a bit of a priority. It’s challenging to also write for this site and keep it all in balance, but maybe I just need to take the summers off. Go away in May, and as the kids return to school, maybe my creative endeavours will also. We’ll see! Maybe I’ll finally publish that Tommy Thompson Park post I’ve spent so much time on!