Crouching Tiger, Hidden Cardinal
You might be watching the birds, but the birds are watching you.
I’ve discovered something fascinating while out birding. If I am power walking through a park on a phone call, there are often birds galore in perfect poses. Seriously—there have been elusive little ones or even once a large turkey that were nonchalantly standing right there next to me. But if I am out walking slowly with my camera, sometimes birds are nowhere to be found.
Well it turns out that (surprise, surprise) given that I’m new at all this birding photography stuff, it doesn’t take much to do birding wrong or to scare them off. Of course, intellectually I knew some of this beforehand. But actually experiencing it for myself is something else. A little movement of the camera or minor noise can be enough to get a bird’s attention—and let’s face it, they are amazingly perceptive.
Moreover, birds benefit from their own alarm system in which multiple species keep watch and can alert each other to potential threats. Birds communicate a ton of information to each other through their calls, songs, and behavior. One sees a threats and alerts the others, even tracking the danger and providing response information. Talk about situational awareness! It is really cool to see this defensive cooperation and coordination in action.
I’ve observed this myself as there are a lot of birds that tend to live or hang out in a thick bunch of trees near the entrance of one of the parks I visit. They tend to go quiet and hide if you walk by them or stand near that entrance.
However, really cool things can happen if you stand still for long enough and are patient. I stood under one tree and got to see four Blue Jays chirping up a storm and chasing each other all around the branches above me. It was a wonderful sight and although the few pictures I got weren’t great, that wasn’t as important as the experience.
By the way, if you are enjoying these emails, please consider recommending them and forwarding one to someone you know who might like them too! If these stories and pictures brighten one more person’s day, then that means I’ve done my job.
Until next (Bird!) time,
Grover