I think we own at least three bird identification books. I have clearly identified them by their covers. As far as the actual identification of the birds we see goes, however, I’m more of the “Oh, look! A bird!” type watcher. I watch for birds to photograph.

Rick is actually pretty organized about his bird watching. He’s even started a log of his Idaho sightings. I, on the other hand, have a limited repertoire of on-demand avian identification skills, and apparently, I’m not prone to lookin’ ‘er up after the fact. As they say in Idaho, that’s just how I roll.

For instance, I knew right away that this was a seagull.

And this, despite the deceptive white (not feathers, but rather the sun reflecting off the black), was a red-winged blackbird.

When I don’t already know, though, I just make it up. And this was clearly a small brown sweetheart looking for a little shelter.

I believe this species is the common beady-eyed hedge hopper. However, since it looks remarkably like my ninth grade French teacher, I’m going with “Monsieur Leduc.”

This is a rare mute syrup sucker.

I’m thinking “Bathsheba” here. She claimed to want some privacy, but she was just so out there…

Apparently, humming birds do more than hum.

You never know what you’ll see when you’re a bird watcher. And you know what? I’m starting to think they’re keeping an eye on us, too.  For instance, I came around the corner of a 19th floor hotel suite in Vancouver last year wrapped in an insufficient towel and was startled to find a peeping Tom staring me down.

He thought it was pretty funny.

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