I’ve been getting a little more serious about county birding here in Washington recently. For those of you not familiar with it, county birding is trying to build up a list for a particular county or all the counties in a state. Some birders only care about their life list or their ABA (American Birding Association) list. For others, it’s a state or county list, and for some, it’s all of the above and more. I could go into the pros and cons of county listing, but that’s getting off-topic for this post. Maybe I’ll get into it later. Remind me.
Anyway, last weekend, I decided to visit a few counties that I’ve only driven through (Thurston) or haven’t even been in (Mason). In Thurston County, I stopped at Nisqually NWR and a few places around Olympia including Capitol Lake and turned up 65 species, and I found 44 species with several stops in Mason County. Between the two counties, I saw 76 species and gained 109 county ticks. I thought I did pretty well considering the weather and time of year. Well, I thought I did well until I got home.
I should probably mention that during the middle of the day I called home to get a report on what was being reported on Tweeters (the WA state birding listserv). I have a fear that a mega-rarity, or even a not-so-mega-rarity, is going to be found while I’m out and I won’t know about it until it’s too late to go look for it. I especially fear that I’m going to drive right past a spot where something’s been found, completely unaware. The birding world seems to be full of stories like that.
When I got home, I went online and found out that a couple of other birders found a King Eider at a state park in Mason County that I thought about visiting. D’oh! At least I didn’t drive right past the park, but I was fairly close. Then a day later, someone else reported two Magnolia Warblers in Thurston County. I had been pretty close to them, too. Oh, well.
Actually, I did have a good time, despite missing those birds. I’m not completely insane that into county or state listing. But the coincidence was, um, interesting.
“I have a fear that a mega-rarity, or even a not-so-mega-rarity, is going to be found while I’m out and I won’t know about it until it’s too late to go look for it.”
Umm…two words….or is it one. I-phone. (or Blackberry). $70 / month and the world at your fingertips. View the listservs, use the lighter app at a concert, play scrabble with strangers, play the ocarina, waste countless hours on facebook or suduko, view ebird sightings, use the shotgun, chainsaw, or light saber when danger approachs, or use the magic 8 ball to determine which rarity is up next. The list is endless.
Thanks, Steve, but the $70/month outweighs my fear.