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Only thing harder than birding in the rain is birding in the wind. By 4:30 this afternoon I realized I'd only seen Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Mallard, Turkey Vulture and American Crow. A far cry from my Bird RDA! And the wind was gusting over 25 mph. For a split moment I thought about flicking in the whole Bird RDA streak (80 days and counting!). But then I came to my senses, got on my coat, and headed out for my walk. (image:wikipedia)A block later, I'd only managed to hear a Song Sparrow (weakly singing in a bush), and seen a Northern Mockingbird drinking rainwater from someone's gutter and a lone Mourning Dove huddled on a powerline. Slow pickins!
By the time I got to the hike and bike path, I'd picked up a Carolina Chickadee, a calling House Sparrow, a field full of American Robins, and one flyby Rock Pigeon. You know its slow when your highlight after 20 minutes is a Rock Pigeon.
It was looking very grim, but I shouldn't have worried. My little feathered paisanos always come through in the end. By the time I got home, I'd wracked up 26 species (as compared to 28 yesterday in the rain). Luckiest sighting was probably the Sharp-shinned Hawk blowing through--I only happened to see it while double-checking a distant Turkey Vulture.
Day List: 27 species (135% of Bird RDA)
3 comments:
It was unbelievably windy here in NJ today! Glad you got your RDA.
So is this RDA requirement something that has been approved by some government agency, the Audubon Society or Cornell Lab? 20! I thought to myself...that seems a tad low, but then I remembered it is a minimum requirement and realized that the number might be valid, though I don't think I could live on 20 a day for too long of a stretch before I suffered from serious Bird Species Derpevatation Syndrome" better known as BSDS. I wonder if I could get a government grant to study BSDS!
Vern
Hey Vern, so far the Bird RDA is experimental, and not approved by anyone official. Its for sure a minimum, and I can tell you from frequently getting my Bird RDA on the same 40 or so species I see around my house or on the way to work, you can start to get some BSDS sometimes.
But for most people, the Bird RDA is a good minimum. It makes you get out side and at least take a look around every day. I got complaints when I unveiled the Bird RDA that it was too high--that too many people working in cubicles could never get the Bird RDA.
Its those people, who barely even see the sun on any given day, who have the serious BSDS!
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