Way back BC (before covid) I decided “Never Stop Learning” needed to be a thing (dementia be gone). One of the things I had on the things to learn list was to name 20 of Melbourne’s most common birds. List in hand, off I went for a bit of bird spotting and even went along on a bird watching walk at a local park. I did a little story and then promptly forgot. Whilst in Africa recently, my interest was renewed. Maybe it’s an age thing. First you get into growing tomatoes and then you move on to bird watching. Hmm, what comes next? Maybe bingo or bowls.
Now in the UK, I figured time to learn a bit about our local feathered friends. I found two second handbooks on birds and got myself a new pair of binoculars (old pair MIA). Bird watching seems to be a popular past time here and lots of people put out food. Living on the 2nd floor provides limited opportunities for placing bird feeders in trees, but I’ve attached a feeding station to the window, so hopeful that once the trees bloom they’ll pop by.
One of my faves so far has to be the Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) different to our good old Aussie Magpie. Confusing - Australian magpies (not Pica pica) are not related to magpies anywhere else in the world.
As to those into birds, according to Wikipedia:
Birder. The acceptable term used to describe the person who seriously pursues the hobby of birding. May be professional or amateur.
Birding. A hobby in which individuals enjoy the
challenge of bird study, listing, or other general activities involving bird
life.
Bird-watcher. A rather ambiguous term used to describe
the person who watches birds for any reason at all and should not be used to
refer to the serious birder.
Contrary to popular belief, the term “twitcher” is not commonly used. That’s reserved for those birders who travel
long distances to see a rare bird that would then be ticked off. So
although I do love a good old list and ticking things off, I think I’ll be a
common garden variety bird watcher patiently waiting for spring.
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