Day 21 - Keep Calm and Bird On
As a birder there are few things more frustrating than a missed chase. It doesn't matter if its a 10 mile drive, or100 miles. Whether you spend 15 minutes looking, or 15 hours. A missed chase is usually a huge let down and leaves you wondering "what if?". What if I had left an hour earlier? What if I had tried yesterday? What if the light would have been better? What if I just missed it because I didn't look hard enough? What if, what if, what if?
Today was a day full of what ifs? I put together a plan to seek out 5 targets that had been reported in the last week. 3 were birds I have to get that are regular but rare here in Narnia. The other 2 are residents that usually require a little work to find. The reports provided plenty of details, and several seemed like slam dunks. I planned on no-less than 3 year birds when I started the journey into the out lands--I shouldn't have planned on anything...
The first stop was actually a success; I pulled up to the location and after 15 minutes of looking I finally found the Clown Curler right where it was supposed to be. I was positive that this was a good sign. I took off for my next target which required scanning through fields full of birds. I spent an hour and just couldn't pick out my target. Using my time tested method of risk v.s. reward, I decided that I could risk leaving and probably find this bird later in the year. The reward being that I had other targets that would be easier to find right?
After a little bit of a drive I pulled up to my next target where I expected to find a roosting Surprised Thief. Surprise surprise, no thief. I was flabbergasted. This was supposed to be the slam dunk and I had driven a bit out of the way to look for it. I will see one eventually this year, but when there is a slam dunk you typically take it. I spent an hour searching the area but nothing... The hour here wasn't the frustrating part, but the trip there and back added another 90 minutes. Two-and-a-half hours I could have put towards something else!
Knowing my time was limited I rushed to my last target, completely skipping one bird on my list since it was a long shot. I arrived as it was starting to get dark and everything was quiet. The songbird I was searching for was nowhere to be found. I finally gave up and went home...
Days like today are a drag on your spirit during a big year. The best laid plans don't matter if the birds just aren't there. What if I had done this yesterday? Most of the drive back to civilization was silent contemplation listening to the radio and asking a barrage of what ifs in my head. At the end of the day nothing I missed will make or break my year--I will see everything at one point or another. So instead of dwelling on what could have been, just keep calm, and bird on.
New birds today: 1
Year List: 136
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