This afternoon, while slaving away at my calculus homework, I spotted some movement in the trees behind my house. My binoculars were conveniently close at hand, so I quickly put all my polar functions aside and went to see who was there. The distraction proved worthy of my time, since the two little visitors turned out to be Philadelphia vireos. True, I've seen this species multiple times before. This time, however, was the first time I'd ever found the species in my own backyard, and one moment of viewing them really stood out: at one point, both of the birds flew in and landed on the same branch not too far away from the window I was standing at. Thus I was able to see both in my binoculars at the same time, and they were really cute interacting with each other. Best of all, they were close enough that I could get a good view of their beaks!
I know, big deal, right?
The thing is, most of the time when you see vireos, they are really high up in trees and you can't see all of the little details. In particular, you can't notice the nasty little hooks at the end of their beaks.
So what's so important about that?
I often lump vireos and warblers into one group of "hard-to-see arboreal birds" because that's exactly what they are--small, fast, and high up in trees. However, the two groups are actually not closely genetically related. The hooks on the beaks of vireos are a nice little reminder that their most likely nearest cousins are crows and predatory shrikes.
The little guys quickly left before I could get my camera, and I had to return to my homework. Still, I was incredibly happy to have seen that several-millimeter-long bit of morphology. If you take up birding, you can be just as crazy as you're probably now thinking I am!
Sometimes it's the little things that count.
This post made me smile. It was the "slaving away at calculus homework" that caught my attention initially, since that's my current activity, but what a nice find! I remember sketching bird beaks in elementary school and finding them fascinating subjects to shade, even if I had no idea what sort of body they were attached to. I still find it rather amazing how you know every little detail about every bird...
ReplyDeleteGreat post, even though I'm nearly clueless when it comes to birding. Meh, I probably don't have the patience for it! Anyways, I do agree with your "main" idea that sometimes it's the small details that matter the most when it comes to stuff we're super interested in. For me, it's the same.
ReplyDeleteWell now I'm not worried anymore that I have some weird variant of OCD, I found someone else like me!
Yay! Arch has a birding blog! So much fun, even though I'm not that into birding myself. I googled the Philadelphia Viero after reading this just because I was curious what they looked like, and they are adorable! Most birds are adorable, and I look forward to learning more about birds from your blog. You should post something about that wallcreeper you saw in Germany at Schloss Neuschwanstein.
ReplyDeleteHaha this is the Arch I know! I'm not so much of a bird guy myself, but you expressed your excitement for species I was completely ignorant of in such a way that I really felt why bird watching is just an important hobby of yours. Can't wait to read more about your birding experiences!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a nice moment. I can see the why seeing a particular bird literally "in your own back yard" would be exciting. (I still have to send you that picture of the bird my kids and I saw in our own backyard.)
ReplyDelete