What was bad was it drained me of a certain degree of enthusiasm. Lethargy came where there was once energy. It's like quitting cold turkey from caffeine addiction. After three days, on Wednesday, Feb. 4th, I forced myself to go birding. Forced. Willfully overcame reluctance. And what was even more strange...I purposely left my camera gear behind. Horrors! Considering that the place that I was going to harbored at least five different gull species, according to the report I just read.
It is unusual for an inland body of water like the reservoir at Peck Park to host such a diversity of gulls but the one who saw them was quite reliable and this presented an opportunity to further increase my lifelist tally. But to leave the camera behind? Many would say, my wife being foremost, that that is just not me. So I really can't explain why I did not bring my camera (I did bring my videocamera, however) except perhaps for the fact that a dead body was found at this park just a couple of months ago. Call me paranoid but I would not risk bringing about $3,500.00 worth of photographic gear to a murder scene when I'm birding all by myself. At least the video camera was small enough to fit my hand and my pocket and was quite inconspicuous.
I did see some birds none of which were new to me. And yes, there were gulls, but they were at such a distance that determining the color of the irises or of the bills were impossible. The videos I took at full zoom were of no use either.
A week passed and the gloom, both personal and the weather, continued to dampen my birding zeal. Not even Dark Wader nor Look Skylarker nor Hen Swallow managed to lift my doldrums.
But you'll never know, the "birdfire might strike back" next week. The "return of the birdguy" could happen. Stay tuned for the sequel.
* Star Wars, 1977
1 comment:
I think it's that time of year... perhaps the clouds coming over the west coast in the past week have added to the doldrums. I've felt it too.
I love your references to Star Wars :)
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