By Daryl Bauer, Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Several times this spring I have blogged about there being so much to do outdoors and so little time. There are fish to be caught, mushrooms to be picked and turkeys to be killed. Often wish there were a way to turn the calendar back a week or three to make it last longer.
In recent springs, I have to admit that there has been another activity that has occupied some of my time. I have intentionally been bird-watching, birding.
Now, let me establish this fact: Primarily, my idea of “birding” includes beautiful birds that weigh in excess of twenty pounds, gobble, and trip over long beards. Will also confess to having watched the movie The Big Year, and heartily laughing at the bird-watching characters in that movie.
My daughter, Emily, became interested in bird-watching a few ago. During the month of May the past couple, three years she has participated in the Nebraska Birding Bowl. My wife and I have spent a few weekends with her and my son-in-law on their annual bird bowl quest. We have discovered birds that I never knew existed before, beautiful birds.
Emily has really gotten into this birding thing. She has the books, apps, spotting scopes, cameras with huge lens, the whole nine yards. More than all of that, she is good at it. At times it is uncanny how she can hear and spot birds! While walking along, she will stop and point out a tiny hummingbird perched on a branch. I am biased, but I am betting the outdoor knowledge and skills she has learned has transferred to birding. Skills learned while hunting and fishing.
In reality, birding is just hunting! We may not be giving a big ole tom or a pronghorn a ride home in the pickup when we are done, but we are listening, looking, pursuing quarry. Hunting skills like being still, quiet, unseen are necessary. We are looking and listening for “game”, hunting. Likewise, it culminates in a rush of success when we finally spot some new bird!
Some of you have quit reading by now because this blog is not about my usual topics of hunting and fishing. Or is it?
I have said before that if you want to take your outdoor skills, your hunting and fishing skills, to the next level, learn to trap. To be successful, trappers need to be next level in reading sign, understanding behavior, recognizing how critters use their habitats. Those skills apply not just to trapping but also to hunting and fishing.
Likewise, I am telling you that learning to listen, watch, and identify the diversity of birds around us, especially this time of year, will not only give you a greater appreciation for our Nebraska outdoors, it will make you a better outdoorsperson, a better hunter and angler.
In the process, you never know what you might see!
