When Birding Isn’t

Usually when people see me out walking around with my camera, and it’s pretty difficult to miss a Canon camera with a 400mm lens, I tell them I’m “birding.? Heck, I even tell myself that, often times heading out with the intent to get a picture of a particular bird.

I’m always out to get a picture of a Kingfisher, as I did on this day,

and I much enjoyed watching this pair of Grebe lovers circling each other while bathed in sundown’s beautiful colors:

But the real highlight of my day, and probably not just the day, was getting this picture of four otters that just happened by while I was standing on the dock talking to two fishermen. They swam right under the pier we were standing on, so close that I couldn’t get my 400mm lens to focus on them. Only after they moved off shore a little ways and looked back was I able to get this picture.

When I got home I didn’t mention I’d gotten a better picture of a Kingfisher, or a beautiful shot of two Grebes, all I could talk about was the four otters I had seen.

Perhaps I’m not birding at all, but simply learning to pay closer attention to the magnificent world I share with others.

2 thoughts on “When Birding Isn’t”

  1. I have found something similar… in the days (way back) when I was birding properly, in Africa, we birders saw far more game than the game watchers because our attention was focused differently.

    Your pictures are so wonderful. You and Shelley have driven me to consuming lust for an SLR, even to attempt such shots!

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