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Birdbrain

7/12/2018

9 Comments

 
Picture
Australian raven
I’m not an obsessive person. Sure, I collected comic books as a kid (because I wanted to read complete stories), and I harbor a secret wish to watch every single Doctor Who episode ever made before I die, but I’m not a collector or an enthusiastic hobbyist. No quilting or collections of stamps and coins for me.

But birds, I’m finding, are a slippery slope.

Before I moved to Australia, I couldn’t identify any local birds in my suburban D.C. neighborhood beyond the ubiquitous robin, cardinal, and blue jay. In Australia though, the birds are so colorful and noisy, how could I ignore them?

I identified the common, brightly colored ones first, like the crimson rosella, galah, and king parrot.
Crimson rosella
Galah
King parrot
Next I moved on to the birds with big personalities, such as the Australian magpie, sulphur-crested cockatoo, and gang-gang parrot.
Australian magpie
Sulphur-crested cockatoo
Gang-gang parrot
Then I felt bad about ignoring the less colorful ones like the common mynah, Australian pigeon, and superb fairy wren, so soon I was on the lookout for them too.
Noisy miner
Australian pigeon
Superb fairy wren
But I wasn’t a birder. Not at all. Birders are driven, obsessive people who go to the ends of the earth to bag their bird. And I am not driven or obsessive. Sure, I started scouring the second-hand store for bird guides and left my dog at home so I could get closer to the birds without alarming them. And I fantasized about having a real camera with a professional zoom . . . but I didn’t have a problem.

My daughter bought me a bird-matching card game for my birthday, and every family trip began to include aviaries and bird sanctuaries. I tried to share my fascination with my family.

“Look,” I said one day, waving my phone triumphantly. “I got a picture of a yellow-tailed black cockatoo today!”
Picture
Yellow-tailed black cockatoo
My daughter gave my hard-won photo an indifferent glance. “I bet they call them that because of the yellow on the tail.”

“And they’re black,” my husband added.

A week later, I spent hours trying to identify a bird I’d tracked from tree to tree at the front entrance of our community. I consulted bird books, websites, and countless online photo galleries.

“I think,” I announced to my family, “that it’s a red wattlebird.”

My daughter squinted at my photo. “It isn’t red.”

“It’s sort of red,” I said. “There, by the beak. That’s a little red.”

My husband took a look. “And it doesn’t have a wattle.”

Spoilsports.

But they were right, so I spent more hours trying to identify that bird. I came up with nothing.
Picture
The mystery bird
And it’s driving me CRAZY, the not-knowing. I HAVE to know. And I also have to admit that maybe I do have a problem.

I think I’m a birder. An lazy, unaccomplished one maybe, but still a birder.

Next stop, stamp collecting.

​
Update to this post: about six weeks after this post was written, I found out that the bird above was indeed a red wattlebird. Next time, I'll have more faith in my identification.
9 Comments
Diane
7/12/2018 04:58:32 pm

I literally laughed out loud reading this! Thinking of you running around the neighborhood trying to get the photo, just makes me smile. Love this blog, my sister friend!

Reply
Rose
7/12/2018 07:05:38 pm

So glad you enjoyed this post, Diane! It was a lot of fun to write. Thanks as always for reading and commenting.

Reply
David Alterman
7/19/2018 01:00:55 pm

I am glad that you are still interested. It can be very fun. From wiki "Australia and its offshore islands and territories have 898 recorded bird species as of 2014.[1] Of the recorded birds, 165 are considered vagrant or accidental visitors, of the remainder over 45% are classified as Australian endemics" Good luck.

Reply
Rose
7/20/2018 02:15:40 am

Wow, that's a lot of species. It's amazing that so many are migrants. I know of one species, the Latham's Snipe, that flies here all the way from Japan every year to spend the summer. Great to hear from you, Dave. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!

Reply
Not a Birder
8/11/2018 11:23:58 pm

Glad that you finally admitted that you’re a birder. You would make a great stamp collector, right up until the point they took up too much space and you threw them away. 😁

Reply
Rose
8/12/2018 03:52:13 pm

You know me too well. You're certainly right about the stamp collection!

Reply
Diane
8/13/2018 06:22:21 am

Curious minds want to know - did you ever learn what kind of bird (not a wattlebird)?

Reply
Rose
8/13/2018 05:04:27 pm

No, sadly I haven’t. I think it’s a type of honeyeater, which is the group wattle birds fall into, but I can’t figure out more than that. I probably need a better photo! 😁

Reply
Rose
7/25/2020 07:34:24 pm

Thanks to your visit later that summer, we now know that the bird was indeed a red wattlebird. Thanks for being so persistent with your questions to the guide at Mulligans Flat!




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    Rose Ciccarelli is an American writer and editor living in Canberra, Australia.

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