Emergency bird walk

So, by 7pm I'd only seen 19 species today--one short of my Bird RDA. Since 20 minutes out on my back porch didn't provide the needed extra bird, I had to take an emergency walk around the block. There are usually some pigeons on the Lutheran Church a couple blocks away, so I headed over there to take a look. Sure enough, there was one on the church and two across the street. Bird RDA achieved!

While no big deal, really, the cool thing about this is that before forcing myself to get at least 20 species each day, I had no idea where to see some of these birds close to my house. I would occasionally see Rock Pigeons flying by on my walk, or near my house, but I had no real idea where they came from. By paying closer attention this year, I found where they most often hang out, so in an emergency, I could head over there to see them.

I have similar stake outs for a quick Eastern Bluebird and Chipping Sparrow (Sellersville Cemetery) as well as Wood Thrush (Perkiomen Creek crossing on Callowhill Rd).

So, while the Bird RDA thing seems like a trivial pursuit, it has already helped me learn a lot more about where each species most regularly occurs in my neighborhood. And that's something I find pretty cool.