Getting Out With Birds

As I slowly recover from knee surgery, my birding has consisted mainly of sitting for brief moments watching our feeders — and enjoying it even while knowing that migration is underway and that I likely have warblers moving through our woods.  It’s frustrating at times but each day gets minimally better — and I know that I could have much tougher medical situations to deal with.

Our daughter sent me a neat gift the other day — a iTunes coupon for the short movie, The Central Park Effect, which I blogged about last year but never got to see.  Here’s the trailer:

I watched it on the computer a couple of days ago and as I knew, it was delightful.  My only complaint is that I need to watch it again with a better birder since I was not sure of a couple of the identifications.   A couple of takeaway items for me were these:   Enjoy the birds you have around you, even the ones you see every day.  And you need to get out and be with them, just experiencing them.

Yesterday and today, I spent time on our decks (I don’t dare venture on to the ground with crutches yet) just absorbing the birds coming and going.  I got buzzed by a couple of hummers, had a young Hairy Woodpecker very close, cocking his head to check me out.  An Eastern Phoebe bobbed its tail in the unweeded garden.  Song Sparrows and American Goldfinches were hitting the tall grass.  And it felt good to sort of be “out there” with them.

It will be a few weeks, assuming that progress continues, before I can do much serious birding.  But the great little movie made me appreciate what a wonderful spot we have here for birds and that it is therapeutic to get out and be  with them.  Good birding.