BIRD WATCHING. PHOTOGRAPHY.
Listen to the Song of the Birds
A bird-watching experience together with my mom
Birds. Such fragile and small creatures. So beautiful in their appearances and yet powerful in their voice. They fly gently and often majestically. Some appear too heavy to take off to the clouds, yet a single flap of the wings will lift them to new heights.
“In order to see birds, it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” -Robert Lynd
I remember my earlier days staying at my grandma’s during the school holidays. She’d point out the song of a specific bird and tell me what it was. To me, it was just a bird singing. I could never tell them apart.
Later in my life, my mom took over the job of a bird watcher. She’s a serious one these days. If she sees or hears a bird she hasn’t spotted before or at least not seen in a while give up talking to her. She’ll ignore you anyway.
With the binoculars in her hand, she has no other focus than the birds.
It’s beautiful. In a way. To find such joy in those tiny creatures.
It’s fascinating — being able to tell them apart from their songs.
And it’s impressive — to be determined to find out the species of every bird spotted.
It feels like a lifetime ago but it was only two weeks ago when my parents visited us in our trailer park. We spent my dad’s birthday together and while I was out paddling with my dad and my husband, my mom was sitting in the same chair with the binoculars pointed to the trees.
When we returned from our short expedition, my mom reported spotting two young woodpeckers. The great spotted woodpecker isn’t so uncommon where we live but I never search for them in the trees.
Being the photographer in the family I now found interest in her sighting and followed her around the corner. It didn't take long until I saw one of the two.
The young bird was high in the trees and I struggled to get a clear shot. But with the patience of a photographer (because I definitely do not have the patience of a bird watcher) I got some semi-decent photographs eventually.
While we were preparing our lunch in nature, a flock of birds was settling down in the field opposite of us. The freshly cut grass was a lunch invitation for dozens of starlings.
And in the middle of that field was a single pole. A bird of prey was sitting atop putting my mom and dad in excitement and despair as they were trying to identify the bird.
Binoculars and a birding book were what they used but I don’t think they could decide on a species in the end. My mom thinks it’s a young buzzard and I’ll go with that one. After all, she’s my birding app.
This is my mom. Focussed at work.
Don’t try to talk to her whenever you see her in this position. She’ll have no ears for you and all eyes on the Birds.
Later that afternoon we were at the trailer park. And the tiny forest bordering our temporary home. This forest is a paradise for birds and for my mom.
I went for a walk with her through the tall grass.
Birds were singing all around us but with the tall standing pine and cottonwood trees, most birds were too high for us to even get a glimpse of them.
We saw and spotted several blue and great tits but those common songbirds aren’t of any interest to my mom. She was looking out for birds she hadn’t seen before or at least a bird she doesn’t see on a regular basis.
We went down in the undergrowth looking for smaller birds like the Euroasian Wren I spotted a few days earlier.
We spotted a lone female chaffinch sitting on a lower branch singing a love song.
Minutes after I heard some rustling in the grass and saw three deers running through the forest. I knew I wouldn’t get a great shot due to the tall brush but clicked anyway.
These are my kind of sightings. Game. I learned that from my dad. He’ll spot a deer on the edge of the forest while driving on the highway. With the eyes of an eagle, we used to say.
Do you see the deer?
My mom might be over 60 on the paper but she’s still a child in her heart. Whenever she spots a fallen tree or log on the ground, she’ll get up and start balancing across.
A red kite was circling above our heads.
While my mom was going deeper and deeper into the forest I started to switch my focus from difficult bird watching to nature photography.
The tall grass was pulling my attention especially when I spotted a unique butterfly clinging onto a single blade of grass. The wind was quite strong and even low on the ground, the grass was moving all around.
I slowly stepped closer to focus on this special creature trying to shoot without any blades of grass between me and the butterfly.
I loved the pattern on his wings. It somehow reminded me of a world map. Delicate and in basic black and white. Yet so beautiful. A touch of yellow was camouflaging this species in the grass.
A small part of this forest was fenced off I assume in an attempt of a reforestation program. The trees had grown already above a size where they would be victims to deer and other animals but the fence was still there.
We spotted a hole in the fence where a well-trotted animal path was leading out. Believe it or not, half an hour later the two of us were crawling out of there. Don’t ask how or why.
I almost lost my mom in the field of tall-growing grass.
At the fenceline surrounding the airstrip, a song thrush landed and started singing a song in the evening light. He took off again before I could get close enough for a better picture.
Another bird forced us to turn around and walk back a few steps to a tall standing tree. A bright and beautiful song was sounding across the field.
We heard the yellowhammer long before we could locate the songbird in the tree. Then both of us spotted the bright yellow fluff at the same time, my mom through her binoculars and me through the zoom lens of my camera.
The bird was well camouflaged and didn’t make any sign of wanting to take off anytime soon. We stood there, watched, and listened for a while.
The evening was rolling in and some beautiful clouds were decorating the sky.
I moved back my attention to the grass and some butterflies sitting on a single blade of grass. This one wasn’t moving. I could come as close as I wanted. This species surely doesn’t fear humans.
We had crossed the small forest from left to right and up and down. It was time for us to return we thought as we were walking back to the edge of the fields.
I captured a lovely daisy and some cornflowers blooming in the brightest blue.
We decided to head further to a small collection of trees surrounded by sunflower and wheat fields.
Just as we got halfway around the trees, I spotted another deer. It ran away but stopped and looked back as we stopped too. We held eye contact for a few moments before it continued its journey away from us.
We heard countless birds in the tall, old oak trees. Most of them were either too far high up in the canopy or they were hidden by branches and leaves.
We suddenly heard a woodpecker. My mom didn’t even try to find him. She was convinced it was impossible.
Surprise, surprise, mom.
But I got this great spotted woodpecker on camera.
It was getting late and probably time for dinner. My mom had left already slowly walking back the few meters to the trailer park when I spotted a bird flying in and out of a nest in the tree.
I didn’t get more than a silhouette but I’m pretty sure it’s a blue or great tit. The two birds I can identify without the help of my mom. And without any light.
And this was it. Two days of bird watching with my mom.
I surely have captured more birds than I usually do and learned a thing or two about one or the other species.
“A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” — Chinese Proverb
My photographs and stories aren’t as good as the ones of other bird photographers such as Dennett, Erika Burkhalter, Randy Runtsch, or Dan Pfeifer but I tried my best to share with you the experiences I made.
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