A warning. This is my longest, and probably most fatuous post to date. For ease of digestion I have broken it into three short chapters. Still kinda long. You have been warned. Chapter 1 – The Problem with Experts I’ve always admired people who are singular of focus…those who have a defining passion which they…Continue readingOf White Geese and Expert Birders
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I’ve been thinking a lot about comfort recently. Not about simply having it, per se, but about how the pursuit of comfort – or perhaps the avoidance of discomfort – informs the ways people speak and act. I think one could easily argue that comfort is among the largest influences on human behaviour, full stop. The…Continue readingGetting Uncomfortable: Leaning In When Things Feel Icky
There’s something about owls that makes people absolutely lose their minds. I’m not kidding, and I’m not exaggerating. In my day-job I have the great fortune to work with – and teach people about – these enigmatic birds, and I’ve seen it time and time again. Owls bring different things out of different people, from…Continue readingBirders Behaving Badly: Celebrity Owl Edition
Birding is like a drug. Maybe you try it once with a friend, and you’re unconvinced. It’s confusing, you don’t really understand what’s happening, and in the end you just don’t really get the appeal. But then a week later you’re at a party and somebody’s like “hey, wanna do birding?” and you’re all “I…Continue readingThumb-birding: a Birder Identifies Bird Emojis
If there was an award for the most-reviled bird here in my home province of Ontario, Canada – or maybe throughout the Great Lakes region – choosing a winner would be an easy task. Perhaps the Canada Goose springs forward in your mind. These loud, abrasive, gregarious birds are hated by many for their aggressive…Continue readingThe Scourge of the Birding Facebook Group: the Comorant
Welcome back to another episode of TTALBbAB, the show where there are no birds and we’re all a little sad about it. You join us in the middle of our search for suitable birding substitutes to carry us through the long, hot summer and into the sweet oasis of fall migration. In Part 1 we looked at…Continue readingThings That Are Like Birds but Aren’t Birds – Part 3
Welcome back friends. In Part 1 we looked at how wayward birders can survive the avian desolation of July by training their binoculars on some colourful insects known as “butterflies”. Did you try it? Was it good for you? Well maybe you’re the sort of person who’s too cool for butterflies. Or maybe you’ve breezed through butterfly…Continue readingThings That Are Like Birds but Aren’t Birds – Part 2
If you – like me – live in the temperate part of the northern hemisphere, there may be no more boring month for birding than July. After an adrenaline-packed May fueled by spring migration and a pleasant June kicking off the breeding season, July hits like the midsummer heatwaves it brings, stopping everything dead in…Continue readingThings That Are Like Birds but Aren’t Birds – Part 1
As you might surmise, this post follows a Part 1 and a Part 2. It might be worth popping back and giving those a quick skim if you want to place the rest of this nonsense in context. Way back in Part 2 I discussed some of the proposed bird name changes in Wildlife Observer…Continue readingThe Names of Birds Named After People – Part 3