So, How'd You First Hear about Birds?

[XemaSab]

When I was 10, my grandparents gave me a pair of binoculars. When I was 13 my mom gave me a field guide.

The rest is history. :D

[JTG of the PRB]

1. In first grade I wanted to grow up and be an ornithologist in Hawaii.

So I must have learned about birds sometime before that.

[XemaSab]

2. I love this answer

:D

[nolabear]

3. OOOoohhh, I've been copycatted! And it was from my grandfather.

He loved birds. When I was very small he had a series of parakeets that just adored him, Pete, RePete, and Ricky. He used to take me to the Least Tern nesting areas to see the tiny eggs and nests (we were careful but I know it was stupid). He just loved them, and I learned to love them too. I married a guy like that; he has a magic way with domestic birds. I am an inveterate urban bird watcher, which around here includes crows, eagles and blue herons, and killdeer out in the outlands. We hae a stunningly smart African Grey, and I dream about birds often. Love them.

Bees? Not so much.

[yankeepants]

4. We always had parakeets when I was growing up

I really didn't really relate to them but was always entranced by all things living wild. My friend's father had started to birdwatch and I remember bringing him a bird that my cat had just killed and he went and got a bird guide and identified it as a Cedar Wax Wing. I was hooked.

I must have been 10 years old. I am now an avid birder. I live in a rural area along the shore of Lake Ontario which is heaven for a bird junky. I spend way too much money on my bird feeding operation and carry binoculars with me in the car, in my bag. . .I get phone calls from friends that start out "I saw this bird and it had. . . " I have four field guides to reference and they know it.

Is there help for me?

[csziggy]

5. The great aunt I was named for was a bird watcher

She and the friends that spent their winters with my grandmother carried binoculars and field guides with them all the time. Since we visited Grandmother at her lake side house every Sunday, we all got introduced to birdwatching very early in life. The ladies would stroll around the yard, looking for birds, or sit on the porch listening for bird songs and pointing out birds to each other. Special times would be when we'd all go to Bok Tower, Cypress Gardens, or the original Busch Gardens and look for birds in the gardens.

Mr. csziggy also grew up with birdwatching - his grandfather a number of guides to birds of Minnesota and his mother took all her kids along for the Christmas bird counts every year. One of the gifts his Mom gave us was a signed copy of Roger Tory Peterson's field guide from when she visited him not long before he died.

[suninvited]

6. my father would point out birds to me

He would always identify the different bird calls even before you could see the bird. He was always right.

He loved the eastern bluebirds and the painted buntings the most.

[LaurenG]

7. My mother was a lover of nature and would point out bird songs and species

I was really small maybe three when an owl was just standing in the backyard, it seemed big since it came up higher than my waist. I was talking to it and petting it, and it was just standing there. She totally freaked and told me an Owl that size could hurt children, and it flew away.
She also used to read us nursery rhymes and sing songs and birds were in them.
This song was a standard.
"Peep said the little bird peep said he, peep, peep, peep said he."

So it seems like I always knew about birds.

[MajorChode]

8. Roger McGuinn had a 12-string guitar

It was like nothing I'd ever heard.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. and the Eagles flew in from the west coast ...

and there was

Willie and Waylon and me.

[tigereye]

9. hmm, probably hearing the mourning doves cooing next door to my parents

house and checking out the purple martin house that the same neighbors had, when I was a small kid. I always liked watching and listening to their songs, but I didn't get really interested until about 5 years ago. I now have some good binoculars, and a pile of bird books. Lately I say to my husband and son, " let's go to __________, and I can look for birds! :D

:hi: xema!

[NV Whino]

11. I was staying in the Appalachian mountains in Georgia

and there was nothing else to do but watch the wonderfully colorful avians. A real change from all the LBBs (little brown birds) of California.
After my stint in GA I even became interested in the LBBs of CA.

[Roon]

12. My grandfather is always pointing out birds in the mountains

We see nuthatches, bluejays,and of course, hummingbirds.

[Inchworm]

13. Some hot chick turned me on

:rofl:

I'm so glad she did. I really got into it for a while. I still keep the field guide in the truck for those mornings I wake up somewhere new. :+

:hi: