Love your photos of northern mockingbird, and lazuli bunting,
@altagirl and for being our resident birder! Now I have birds to look forward to whenever I return to SLC. And to train one's ears to recognize their calls is simply mind boggling to me!
I first met a birder while working in Kampala, Uganda 8 years ago. He was my housemate for a month from Belgium, would go out every weekend with his checklist, and probably checked off some 200 birds off his list that month. He apparently had been birdwatching since childhood.
Good to learn that crested crane, national bird of Uganda is aka grey crowned crane,
@KatyPerrey. I had a chance to also see some shoebills and Uganda Wildlife Educational Center, essentially an animal orphanage.
A retired uncle in southern Taiwan is an avid birder, he showed me the rare black faced spoonbill a few years ago. And while he stayed with me few weeks ago, I looked up several local chapters of Audubon Society outings for him. I also discovered Cornell Lab of Ornithology e-newsletter then.
While driving through Hokkaido with family last spring, we saw the majestic red crowned crane.
Sorry, no photos.
A high school physicist friend works for a local telescope company and has the offered to help me obtain a quality binocular, plan to take up his offer. As for becoming a dedicated birder... maybe someday...