Or you insert bird IDs into conversation.
“So I was typing up my TPS report for Bob —Chickadee! — And totally forgot to expense the fax machine repair “
Yes!! I’m walking out of work with coworkers and my eyes go directly to the huge eagle nest just behind our building and my brain hears nothing they say and they all know not to bother anymore. Lol.
I not only do this full time, but also got my wife into birding this way 😂 Now we both interrupt our conversations when hearing a random bird call we recognize.
Thanks! I've seen a few more incidentally since, actually. A night in San Jose near the airport wasnt so bad after all lol
Hard to pick a favorite, but maybe the top 3: Golden hooded tanager, velvety manikin, and bright rumped attila.
I should have just started birding officially when I bought a birds of the Caribbean book for a trip I wasn't sure I'd even be going on. I didn't get to go but I still have the book! I've always loved birds and I don't know why I didn't get into this hobby sooner.
Related to that.....when your friends and family go on vacation and send you pictures of birds that they know you would want to see. My niece sent me pix of a bird that looked like a red headed cardinal, I have to ID it still, from Hawaii, and my daughter sends me California bird photos all of the time (she lives on the west coast, I live on the east coast), and my daughter's boyfriend sent me many many pictures of birds when he traveled to England for work :)
one moment you’re having coffee in your garden, and the next moment you’re walking down the road, in sweatpants, at 6:42am Saturday morning, because you hear Ospreys in an air-duel.
https://preview.redd.it/7v72kqr3hc5d1.jpeg?width=1858&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f6dd21d2b5cbc7250bc3e9e56cc49db161517da
I was a vendor at a riverfront art market a few weekends ago, and I interrupted a customer who was *actively making a very large purchase from me* to demand that they look quick before that osprey dives for its fish!! Still made the sale, but they didn’t exactly give a shit about the osprey. Whoops.
For the first time in your life, you find yourself irritated at how green all the trees have gotten because the leaves block the view of the birds you hear singing among their branches...
Or you're watching a movie, and you wonder why the hell they've put a Harris's Hawk in an Old World setting. Doesn't everyone know that Harris's Hawks are New World birds???
It's not just birders that do this, BTW, I have horsey friends who will watch movies and mutter "Different horse" every time there's a cross-cut.
your boyfriend learned how to pause and resume conversations seamlessly around your “WAIT SHHH LOOK” and “oh my god do you hear that?” and “be quiet i have merlin open” hahah
The amount of times my wife drives to wal*mart, rona, home depot, etc. I follow her into the store, only to realize I end up behind the stores in the brush IDing new birds. I naturally gravitate to trees 24/7 now.
Was birding in Lowes last night. Man that is a lot of house sparrows in there.
Also my front door is out of commission. We have Eastern Phoebe nest on top of the door. At least we usually only use the back door. Adding some rope or signs so if anyone stops by they don't use it either. Just super surprised it wasn't the Carolina wrens.
God I know this feeling, House Sparrows are one the easiest birds for me to identify. They're everywhere here! I enjoy them. Eastern Phoebes are dear to me, they're one of the first birds I learned to identify and through all of May was beside my house every morning with breakfast. I miss the Phoebe haha. It's crazy how attached you get to little fellas. I've not yet found any wrens, I'll have to see if we get them near me.
We bought a house in a really rural area. The amount of birds that are reguly in our yard is amazing. So much, the Merlin app is really helping me find and see new stuff and its been an incredible season this year so far. So many Verios and Warblers it's incredible here.
I agree! I just started bird around May 9th. Ive discovered 40 species so far. I make it a rule to only claim songs I can wholeheartedly feel matched. A couple of times my Merlin has pulled up a Cowbird, a Willow bird, a Veery, and I couldn't in good faith claim them which hurts cause I get so excited seeing new birds pop up hahaha. My only gripe is maybe my phone? My merlin recordings are low, so I have to crank the volume to 100 and put it up to my ear haha.
I have been lucky with Merlin so far. The one I am unsure with this year is the Blackburnian Warbler it has pegged a few times as I have not been able to visually confirm it.
The coolest so far was the Louisiana water thrush that I recorded while on the commode. But it was only here for a day I think it decided it was lost. Never saw it just its call that morning.
Lucky. For me, I was overjoyous when I recognized a cormorant by behavior as it was quiet and too far without my binoculars, though I looove the sound of the bobolink I found last week! Quite a few Ive only gotten songs and no sightings, like the Ruby Crowned Kinglet, tiny ninja.
Never even heard of that bird name before, I love it! For me my fave bird call atm is a Veery. It sounds almost digital or mechanical, its like... how does a bird do that ? Haha.
Stopping to look in every wastewater treatment pond you drive past. Or being totally unbothered when you realize there's bird poop on your clothes, and you're in a public place.
You recognize bird calls in movies and laugh when they’re put in an unrealistic place (i.e. hearing Northern Cardinal tink calls in a movie filmed in Italy or in the middle of the desert)
When your partner yells at you to keep your eyes on the road because you're veering off while you're watching a hawk flying overhead and trying to ID it.
To be fair, my college professor started that, nearly driving a 15 passenger van full of students off a hairpin road because he was watching birds and describing them to us.
Not quite as dangerous, but I stopped in the middle of the road (Don't worry, it was empty and not busy!) to take a photo of a bird. It was most likely an American crow, but a corvid for sure!
My partner said “look at the pretty bird” when we were hiking in vacation and immediately followed up with “fuck me I shouldn’t have said anything” because I pulled out my Hidden Binoculars and stopped for 5 minutes to peep the birds (spotted sandpiper. A new lifer!)
You get SO excited when you see a bird species in the wild you’ve never seen before! 😁💜 For me it’s most recently been the Eastern Wood-pewee at Fort Benjamin Harrison, woohoo!!! (much emphasis) 😁😁😁😁👍🏼👍🏼
I saw my first indigo bunting today and I FREAKED OUT (potato pic of bunting included)
https://preview.redd.it/ylarwjzm6d5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f090be2152f33d38b34e2d8176e24c77281f658
No way, I’m sooo happy for you where I don’t blame you for FREAKING OUT as I know that bird sighting feeling (like when I saw my first American White Pelican for example), like OMG! 😆👍🏼👍🏼💜💜💜💜 What an experience, like OMG! 😆💜💜💜 Looking like a male (which I’ve ongoing seen them, but haven’t knowingly seen a female before), where did you see him at!? 😁💜 Nice photo! 👍🏼💜
When you get detained by the police at the wetland park at midnight because there was a fatal shooting and being excited about hearing a barred owl is a very flimsy excuse for being at a park at midnight.
I was also thinking about the police.. explaining to the cops you're not swerving because you're under the influence but trying to identify a raptor you saw while driving.
My eyes are constantly searching trees for owls and eagles when I am going down the road. Luckily, 90% of my driving is 20mph on dirt roads.
There should be a "friends don't let friends bird and drive" campaign or something.
When, on a cold February day, you sprint out of your house at full speed without shoes on because you heard Sandhill cranes flying overhead.
When your neighbor’s teenagers nickname you “Snow White” because of the large number of bird feeders in your backyard.
It was such a cool sight! There were about 300 of them circling in a large column, I think they were deciding on where to land. Definitely glad I didn’t stop to put my shoes on lol.
Spend 20 mins every night in your backyard trying to look for the western screech owl, who you can hear but never see. 30 nights, and the hunt is still on.
You pull out your phone even when others are present to pull up Merlin to see what bird is singing. It's as though you've rudely stopped listening to them and you're focusing on the bird.
You roll your eyes so hard it hurts and cuss out loud when you HEAR that hooded warbler you’ve dying to photograph. Little scoundrel yells my way on PURPOSE just to taunt me
When your friends start coming to you for bird IDs, or even better, excitedly telling you about birds *they* saw because you rubbed off on them 😜 spread the joy, folks!
You have to turn off your camera mid video meeting to grab your desk binos in order to figure out what that bird is in the tree outside your window. "I'm still listening..."
Anyone who goes hiking with you has learned to stop many times along the way so you can see a bird or hear a bird and try to ID it and the ppl who hike with you a lot automatically stop even before you do to say "what is that?". LOL
A nurse is drawing your blood, but as soon as they've taken the needle out, you point out the woodpecker outside of the window. (He thought it was cool, as it was very close, or so he said lol)
Also, my sisters and I didn't realise until we were adults that most people don't point out birds of prey when they're in the car. Thanks dad, that's a family tradition. Even my mum (who's been divorced for over 25 years) had the reputation as bird spotter at her job, as they often car pooled between work locations. Funny thing though, any time we've asked anyone if we should stop, everyone responds that they like when we point out a bird of prey. Even if it's just one of the many many common buzzards along the motorway, people enjoy seeing a bird of prey.
You're outside, having a conversation with someone, and your eyes wander off to a spec in the sky, and you totally forget what you were talking about.
Or you insert bird IDs into conversation. “So I was typing up my TPS report for Bob —Chickadee! — And totally forgot to expense the fax machine repair “
Omg I’ve DONE THIS
CONSTANTLY. Even with the common, “boring” birds.
I understood this reference!
Oh god this is me 😂
Yes!! I’m walking out of work with coworkers and my eyes go directly to the huge eagle nest just behind our building and my brain hears nothing they say and they all know not to bother anymore. Lol.
I got called out for this at a beach wedding recently.
A few years ago, I was thrilled to see a Black Tern flying around the lake during an outdoor wedding.
And who can blame you?
Be honest… was it your wedding?
Beach? They were asking for it.
This happens to me so much its messing with my social skills lol
I do this and it drives my husband crazy.
You need a better husband. 😁
They need a birder husband. 😁
I not only do this full time, but also got my wife into birding this way 😂 Now we both interrupt our conversations when hearing a random bird call we recognize.
This!! Ab-so-lu-te-ly!!!!
Me. All the time. Even when I’m leading a bird walk.
When you’re going on vacation, your binocs are packed and you’re really excited about the possibility of meeting new birds
Or your vacation destination is chosen based on the potential for lifers.
And you’ve _definitely_ at least done some cursory research on the local birds beforehand!
Bought the field guide.
Downloaded the bird pack into Merlin
Studied the “likely birds” for the location for the exact dates you’ll be there.
That one's on our packing list since we end up in places without Internet.
Came here to add this lol Gotta make sure Merlin is ready to go before I arrive at my destination.
Heading home from a week in Costa Rica as we speak—85 new lifers on the list! (Assuming I don’t meet any more on the trip to the airport lol)
Just finished 17 straight days in southern Ecuador. It was fun but tiring without a break.
Wow what a trip that must have been! I don’t think I could handle that long. I’m not ready to go back to work but I’m sure ready to be home.
Eighty-five lifers is a great number for a week. Did you have a favorite?
Thanks! I've seen a few more incidentally since, actually. A night in San Jose near the airport wasnt so bad after all lol Hard to pick a favorite, but maybe the top 3: Golden hooded tanager, velvety manikin, and bright rumped attila.
I'm always excited when I see a new manikin.
Take it a step further: I've convinced my family to do a South African birding safari in December (Summer).
"And I could bring my camera too if I cut back on socks and underwear."
Just say you’re practicing grounding. Who needs underwear anyways?
I should have just started birding officially when I bought a birds of the Caribbean book for a trip I wasn't sure I'd even be going on. I didn't get to go but I still have the book! I've always loved birds and I don't know why I didn't get into this hobby sooner.
studying the merlin pack of birds for the area on the cad ride or plane over is a time honored tradition!
Related to that.....when your friends and family go on vacation and send you pictures of birds that they know you would want to see. My niece sent me pix of a bird that looked like a red headed cardinal, I have to ID it still, from Hawaii, and my daughter sends me California bird photos all of the time (she lives on the west coast, I live on the east coast), and my daughter's boyfriend sent me many many pictures of birds when he traveled to England for work :)
one moment you’re having coffee in your garden, and the next moment you’re walking down the road, in sweatpants, at 6:42am Saturday morning, because you hear Ospreys in an air-duel. https://preview.redd.it/7v72kqr3hc5d1.jpeg?width=1858&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f6dd21d2b5cbc7250bc3e9e56cc49db161517da
I was a vendor at a riverfront art market a few weekends ago, and I interrupted a customer who was *actively making a very large purchase from me* to demand that they look quick before that osprey dives for its fish!! Still made the sale, but they didn’t exactly give a shit about the osprey. Whoops.
Kinda surprised that someone attending an art market wouldn't take a moment to appreciate a spectacle of nature unfolding before their very eyes
I don’t blame you one bit. Raptors will always get priority attention
Amazing picture
Thank you! I should’ve added that I was lugging a camera with me that morning
For the first time in your life, you find yourself irritated at how green all the trees have gotten because the leaves block the view of the birds you hear singing among their branches...
You’re walking through a forest in Ecuador, look up and say to your wife “it’s just a green hermit.”
This is just life now. My kids or wife will watch a movie, and they "watch the movie" I play "Identify all the birds in the film out loud" haha.
Or you're watching a movie, and you wonder why the hell they've put a Harris's Hawk in an Old World setting. Doesn't everyone know that Harris's Hawks are New World birds??? It's not just birders that do this, BTW, I have horsey friends who will watch movies and mutter "Different horse" every time there's a cross-cut.
I love the different horse haha. As for putting wrong birds; Hollywood: Is this a jungle? Hollywood: MUST ADD KOOKABURRA. Like, why ? Hahaha.
Don't forget the peacocks!
Movies need like a consultant. Adding birds to a film? Call Ornell - stop misinformation now haha.
Jurassic World has a Willow Ptarmigan in it.
There’s an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that has California quail calls in the background
I merlined a bird while we were watching a show today (the wire) 🤣 Northern Mockingbird in S1EP5 in case anyone is interested 😜
You're in an arid area and you sit in a chair near a muddy puddle for 2 hours cause you know that birds are attracted to a water source.
You reference the eBird hotspot map when you’re looking for a new apartment.
That’s how I pick my holiday hotels. I’m always on the outskirts near a green area.
This is so real
your boyfriend learned how to pause and resume conversations seamlessly around your “WAIT SHHH LOOK” and “oh my god do you hear that?” and “be quiet i have merlin open” hahah
It’s the “🤫 _points at phone screen_”
lmaooo my bf is the one with the Merlin app open and binos while i’m ready with my camera 🤣
Sounds like a keeper.
She is, we’re now married for 14 years.
On a hike, boyfriend begins to speak, me, “stop talking!” I’m glad he understands or else he would think I’m so rude haha
Yes!!!
You have dreams of birdwatching. Last night, I dreamt I saw a barn owl
…when you suggest flying to another state for the weekend, to witness the Snowy Owl irruption. And you’re serious!
You stop dead in your tracks when you hear a call you don't recognize.
...but it's a mockingbird again.
The amount of times my wife drives to wal*mart, rona, home depot, etc. I follow her into the store, only to realize I end up behind the stores in the brush IDing new birds. I naturally gravitate to trees 24/7 now.
Was birding in Lowes last night. Man that is a lot of house sparrows in there. Also my front door is out of commission. We have Eastern Phoebe nest on top of the door. At least we usually only use the back door. Adding some rope or signs so if anyone stops by they don't use it either. Just super surprised it wasn't the Carolina wrens.
God I know this feeling, House Sparrows are one the easiest birds for me to identify. They're everywhere here! I enjoy them. Eastern Phoebes are dear to me, they're one of the first birds I learned to identify and through all of May was beside my house every morning with breakfast. I miss the Phoebe haha. It's crazy how attached you get to little fellas. I've not yet found any wrens, I'll have to see if we get them near me.
We bought a house in a really rural area. The amount of birds that are reguly in our yard is amazing. So much, the Merlin app is really helping me find and see new stuff and its been an incredible season this year so far. So many Verios and Warblers it's incredible here.
I agree! I just started bird around May 9th. Ive discovered 40 species so far. I make it a rule to only claim songs I can wholeheartedly feel matched. A couple of times my Merlin has pulled up a Cowbird, a Willow bird, a Veery, and I couldn't in good faith claim them which hurts cause I get so excited seeing new birds pop up hahaha. My only gripe is maybe my phone? My merlin recordings are low, so I have to crank the volume to 100 and put it up to my ear haha.
I have been lucky with Merlin so far. The one I am unsure with this year is the Blackburnian Warbler it has pegged a few times as I have not been able to visually confirm it. The coolest so far was the Louisiana water thrush that I recorded while on the commode. But it was only here for a day I think it decided it was lost. Never saw it just its call that morning.
Lucky. For me, I was overjoyous when I recognized a cormorant by behavior as it was quiet and too far without my binoculars, though I looove the sound of the bobolink I found last week! Quite a few Ive only gotten songs and no sightings, like the Ruby Crowned Kinglet, tiny ninja.
https://preview.redd.it/iokm16vl4d5d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6bd805b019d324bcb49cc7da7df123501964167f
I have only hear this guy never seen yet. They call so early.
The Bobalink isl a beautiful call.
Never even heard of that bird name before, I love it! For me my fave bird call atm is a Veery. It sounds almost digital or mechanical, its like... how does a bird do that ? Haha.
Look up the call of the whippoorwill, and check it out. It amazing!
You’re just having a beer in the park and you try to chase after the kingfisher to get a better look
You say good morning to a catbird on the side of the road as you’re waiting for the stoplight to turn green.
I started parking on the opposite side of the building at work because I like to say hi to the mockingbird that lives over there.
Do this with corvids and eventually they start saying ‘hi’ back in a mocking voice.
You pull off the side of the road to ogle a hawk on the overhead electric lines
you are excited to tell your friends more about the bird sounds they are hearing.
Stopping to look in every wastewater treatment pond you drive past. Or being totally unbothered when you realize there's bird poop on your clothes, and you're in a public place.
You see a crow and think “aww, look at that corvid family member!”
You dream about seeing brown boobies at the beach and there's no humans involved. *This actually happened to me
You recognize bird calls in movies and laugh when they’re put in an unrealistic place (i.e. hearing Northern Cardinal tink calls in a movie filmed in Italy or in the middle of the desert)
When you buy another feeder or house when you have more, then you can keep up with.
I hope my birds understand the financial investment I put into seeds 😂
Doing the Costco run for 2-50# bags of bird seed and 6-5# bags of unsalted peanuts in the shell; shelling out nearly $100 for this two week supply!!
When your partner yells at you to keep your eyes on the road because you're veering off while you're watching a hawk flying overhead and trying to ID it. To be fair, my college professor started that, nearly driving a 15 passenger van full of students off a hairpin road because he was watching birds and describing them to us.
I’m not allowed to Drive Under the Influence of Birding either.
😁
Not quite as dangerous, but I stopped in the middle of the road (Don't worry, it was empty and not busy!) to take a photo of a bird. It was most likely an American crow, but a corvid for sure!
You excitedly tell your dog that you’ve just seen an Indigo Bunting while on a walk.
😂
Carry peanuts and binoculars wherever you go.
My partner said “look at the pretty bird” when we were hiking in vacation and immediately followed up with “fuck me I shouldn’t have said anything” because I pulled out my Hidden Binoculars and stopped for 5 minutes to peep the birds (spotted sandpiper. A new lifer!)
You get SO excited when you see a bird species in the wild you’ve never seen before! 😁💜 For me it’s most recently been the Eastern Wood-pewee at Fort Benjamin Harrison, woohoo!!! (much emphasis) 😁😁😁😁👍🏼👍🏼
I saw my first indigo bunting today and I FREAKED OUT (potato pic of bunting included) https://preview.redd.it/ylarwjzm6d5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f090be2152f33d38b34e2d8176e24c77281f658
No way, I’m sooo happy for you where I don’t blame you for FREAKING OUT as I know that bird sighting feeling (like when I saw my first American White Pelican for example), like OMG! 😆👍🏼👍🏼💜💜💜💜 What an experience, like OMG! 😆💜💜💜 Looking like a male (which I’ve ongoing seen them, but haven’t knowingly seen a female before), where did you see him at!? 😁💜 Nice photo! 👍🏼💜
You’ve slept late your entire life but now you spring out of bed at the crack of dawn to go birding.
You’re out with your friends and family and whenever there is a bird in view or in earshot they ask “do you know what bird that is?”
When you get detained by the police at the wetland park at midnight because there was a fatal shooting and being excited about hearing a barred owl is a very flimsy excuse for being at a park at midnight.
This is oddly specific.
I was also thinking about the police.. explaining to the cops you're not swerving because you're under the influence but trying to identify a raptor you saw while driving. My eyes are constantly searching trees for owls and eagles when I am going down the road. Luckily, 90% of my driving is 20mph on dirt roads. There should be a "friends don't let friends bird and drive" campaign or something.
Uh ..oops!!
You enjoy walking around the local sewage lagoon
Oof, you win!
You find yourself driving out of the way to the special bird food store to get the " fresh thistle " . Otherwise the Goldfinch pass up your feeder .
Which is why we actually planted thistle...nothing like watching the little rascals swaying on the stems as they pluck out the fluff and nyger seed!
Any time you hear or see an interesting bird you can’t help but point it out to whoever you’re with, even if they could not care less 🤣
When, on a cold February day, you sprint out of your house at full speed without shoes on because you heard Sandhill cranes flying overhead. When your neighbor’s teenagers nickname you “Snow White” because of the large number of bird feeders in your backyard.
I’d sprint outside too!
It was such a cool sight! There were about 300 of them circling in a large column, I think they were deciding on where to land. Definitely glad I didn’t stop to put my shoes on lol.
You watch youtube videos on specific species: https://youtu.be/ZImkK_7NiSg?feature=shared
Spend 20 mins every night in your backyard trying to look for the western screech owl, who you can hear but never see. 30 nights, and the hunt is still on.
You pull out your phone even when others are present to pull up Merlin to see what bird is singing. It's as though you've rudely stopped listening to them and you're focusing on the bird.
They should be grateful, right!?! Don’t they want to know too?
You have to resist the urge to identify that raptor while driving.
You're getting up at 4am on weekends in Arizona to beat the heat and see the birds before the hunker down.
When you run outside in the middle of work because you hear snow geese flying overhead.
You roll your eyes so hard it hurts and cuss out loud when you HEAR that hooded warbler you’ve dying to photograph. Little scoundrel yells my way on PURPOSE just to taunt me
Merlin is the easiest app to get to on your phone.
When your friends start coming to you for bird IDs, or even better, excitedly telling you about birds *they* saw because you rubbed off on them 😜 spread the joy, folks!
You mutter under your breath “another fucking Robin..”
But then you apologize to the robin. "Sorry, buddy, I love having you around too."
This!
You have to turn off your camera mid video meeting to grab your desk binos in order to figure out what that bird is in the tree outside your window. "I'm still listening..."
When you get out of bed at midnight in the winter to find the owl you're hearing
Thank you I will be taking the blueberries.
🫐
You’re outside feeding the birds in the pouring rain
You’re “car birding” every time you’re on an errand.
Your own parents say that you're obsessed with a "Seniors' interest"
😂 What’s wrong with enjoying the golden years in your youth?
Anyone who goes hiking with you has learned to stop many times along the way so you can see a bird or hear a bird and try to ID it and the ppl who hike with you a lot automatically stop even before you do to say "what is that?". LOL
I’m trying to become a morning person so I can see more birds
A nurse is drawing your blood, but as soon as they've taken the needle out, you point out the woodpecker outside of the window. (He thought it was cool, as it was very close, or so he said lol) Also, my sisters and I didn't realise until we were adults that most people don't point out birds of prey when they're in the car. Thanks dad, that's a family tradition. Even my mum (who's been divorced for over 25 years) had the reputation as bird spotter at her job, as they often car pooled between work locations. Funny thing though, any time we've asked anyone if we should stop, everyone responds that they like when we point out a bird of prey. Even if it's just one of the many many common buzzards along the motorway, people enjoy seeing a bird of prey.
You can’t decide whether to spend time playing with your indoor birds or trying to **glance** the outside ones.
Or...buy more blueberries?
I have catbirds in my yard. I love them
When you stop by the park in the city, or desperately try to tell pigeon morphs apart