Birding Life List (or Why I should Blog before 11:00)

Today I started my Life List.  Seasoned birders (thats people who like to go outside and look at birds, not people who enjoy rosemary on their chicken) will be familiar with the term, but for the normal part of humanity, it's exactly what it sounds like.  It's a list of all the birds you've ever seen ever.  I've chosen to start from today and if I get sick of not having some cool stuff on there I'll add things I know I've seen (Green Heron, Cerulean Warbler, Monkey-Crested Disco Hawk, etc.)

When I googled "monkey crested disco hawk" it provided me with this helpful picture of a cat about to disobey the warning label on the side of his prescription catnip.

I come by birding honestly.  My parents like birding more than most people (in that they like birding more than most other people like birding, and that they like birding more than they like most people).  For further clarification please see the "Things My Parents are Religious About" chart below.

THINGS MY PARENTS ARE RELIGIOUS ABOUT

1. Fishing/Dances that Were the Height of Fashion and Society While the Pyramids Were Under Construction, Respectively
2. Aaron Sorkin's "The West Wing"
3. Birds
4. The Outer Banks
5. Unitarian Universalism

So but seriously, I come by birding honestly.  In fact, on my mom's side of the family not knowing the difference between a Pintail and a Bufflehead is grounds for immediate expulsion (Sorry, Lina).  One of my cousins named for a delicious root spice (I'll leave you guys to guess which one!) frequently scares her very-calm-and-level-headed boyfriend nearly to death by attempting to identify the birds soaring through the air above the car she is in the process of operating.  If that all weren't enough, birding plays a major role (maaaajor role!) at the summer camp for which my first child will be named (not for a long time, see post 1).  Hurricane Burgundy Center for Wildlife Studies Rodriguez will probably disown me, but before he she it they do, they will have a copy of Sibley's and a pair of 8X24 binos thrust into their new born fingers. 

What we need to take away from this, sports fans, is that I really like birding for reasonable reasons, and for those reasons I decided to start writing down all the birds I see.

I made the first part of this post really long because the part where I list all the birds on my life list is gonna be pretty short.

1. Dark Eyed Junco (saw and heard)
2. Yellow Rumped Warbler (saw and heard and came to hate, more on that later)
3. Common Raven (saw and head)
4. Hermit Thrush (saw and heard)
5. Violet Green Swallow (saw and heard)
6. Grey Jay (saw and heard)
7. Peregrine Falcon (saw and heard)
8. Varied Thrush (heard)
9. Red Squirrel (saw and heard, is on list on purpose, is not a bird.  I learned this, to my dismay, after chasing an exciting noise though the trees for some time)

Today we went to Angel Rocks which are some big rocks and are probably called that for a reason but I don't know what it is. I'm going to google it I'll be right back.  Okay google wasn't that fourth coming, by which I mean none of the pages said "Angel Rocks is a rock formation in Chena River State Recreation Area which was named for the totally sweet snow angels some park rangers made there this one time" or anything else like that in their little description, so I'm going to assume the answer is lost in the mists of time, or maybe the trunk of my Corola.  Anyhow it's a really REALLY REALLY cool place, and is beautiful, and has eight birds and  a squirrel in it.  It also has one thousand dogs in it, and their six owners, who work together as an effective bird-terrifying team.  But I digress (you only JUST noticed, D-Rod?)

I'm going to level with you guys, I'm super tired, but had "FREAKING BLOG ALREADY" on my to-do list for today.  I don't want to bother annie for her camera for all the pictures I took, so I'm going to do round two with Angel Rocks Post tomorrow.  Maybe.