Birding - Accidentally on Purpose

Earlier this year, my husband allowed me to cash-in last year's Christmas present of a "me" weekend.  My gift certificate allowed me to leave Friday night and return Sunday afternoon, while he took care of the kids.  A small asterisk beside the "me" weekend offer noted  that I had to stay within 100 miles of home, quickly reigning in my imagination - but I was still happy to have some time to myself.

Of course, as I tried to schedule everything I wanted to do into one weekend, I quickly realized that I would have to narrow my list down significantly.  I decided to make Saturday a bit of a spa day, while reserving Sunday for some much overdue bird-watching.  What an exciting thought - to go birdwatching on purpose!

So Sunday morning, I woke up late - contrary to popular birding techniques - stopped at Starbucks and headed to Bay Area Park and the incessant drizzle that was to be the weather for the day.  Not a great start, but I was going to see some birds, come hell or high water.

Needless to say, when I arrived at the park, I had it all to myself.  So I grabbed my binoculars, tucked my bird book under my jacket and walked onto the boardwalk over the lake.  The lone Northern Mockingbird sitting in the bush about 20 yards away was truly mocking me.  I mean, who goes out of their way to see a mockingbird?  But, I stuck to my guns and continued to wander back and forth between the viewing shelters trying to spot something a little more unusual than what I typically see in my back yard.

Eventually I did see a few interesting birds including an Osprey, Red-bellied Woodpecker and Ruby-crowned Kinglet along with the usuals like Black Vultures, Mallards, Snowy Egrets, Great-tail Grackles, and Blue jays.  And just as I was about to leave, I turned and saw a Helmeted Guineafowl walking across the park path toward the water.  I almost fell down, thinking this must be some sort of joke.  I looked around to see who might have kicked this bird out of the farm truck, but I still had the park to myself.  As I quickly scribbled down a complete description, I thought there must be a petting zoo whose exotic birds had flown the coop.  (I later learned that hunters often release these game birds into the wild to establish feral populations.)

Although the day didn't go exactly as I planned and the meagre list of ten birds wasn't much of a sighting adventure, I had found another place where I can sneak in some birding with my kids. The park itself is filled with a variety of play structures, the restrooms are clean, and the path to the viewing shelters is a short walk from the parking lot.  It won't be difficult to convince the kids to spend a few minutes watching for birds, when they know that the swings and playhouses are just steps away.