By Carla Miller
This is a compilation of birding commentary from various field trips the last several months as we struggled to bird together during a pandemic. Most names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Wise birder:
“I have a great view, but you’ve got the better optics.”
Two birders somehow saw the inside of the mouth of the Olive sided flycatcher:
Les: “That’s a treat–to see the inside of a flycatcher’s mouth. It was yellow.”
Katrina: “I know,” she says with a sigh. “Life is good. That’s adorable.”
Warbler hunting again:
“It sounds yellow-ey, but then again, lots of things sound yellow-ey.”
Helping a beginning birder:
Craig: “I see a green winged teal out there.”
Son: “What’s that?”
Craig: “A teal with green on his wings.”
Son: “What??”
Craig: “A duck.”
Son: “Oh…..”
Birding the PNW on a grey day in October:
Katrina: “Is that the sun?”
Jeff: “Yes, that was the sunbreak–it lasted 14 seconds. I counted.”
Katrina: “There’s another one!!”
Jeff: “Yeah…I saw the shadow.”
She had enough:
Jane: “Okay. Those wood peewees can just pipe down now!”
On hummingbird pronunciation:
Ben: “Is it Cuh-li-o-pee or Cal-e-o-pe?”
Taylor: “I don’t think it matters–puh-tah-toe, po-tawt-o.”
Birding on a slow day:
Katrina: “It’s a shorebird!…No…it’s a leaf.”
Karen: “A leaf bird”
Katrina: “That was the most realistic leaf bird I’ve ever seen.”
Photo caption: Green Winged Teal, pair
Photo by Dave Menke, USFWS
