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 "Witchities" World Series of Birding Blog |
Hallucinations and Hopeby Ian Lynch
Thursday night I had a significant sign that I am ready for the WSB to begin...I had my first hallucination. Typically these don't occur until after dark on Big Day. At that point we are all exhausted and we have been forcing our brains to process every sound that enters our ears to see if it matches any conceivable bird sound catalogued in said over-taxed and mercilessly abused brain. That is when every whistle created by air rushing by the car and every cheep coming from the suspension translates into the most bizzare thoughts like potential Black-throated Blue Warblers and Tufted Titmice. But this hallucination was different, it was created out of hope. This happens all the time when anticipating a bird. They are very easy to dismiss with a quick reality check. In this case, I was standing on my back porch--a sort of very small deck--having just finished talking on the phone to fellow Witchity, Carl. I heard what I first thought was a Virginia Rail doing it's ki-dek, ki-dek call. Now, you need to know that there are woods behind my house. There is a large pond about a quarte-mile away, but it is not marshy at all. For a moment I thought about the wet areas in those woods before I came to my senses and accepted that I had been fooled by one Spring Peeper out of step with the rest of the chorus. But the very fact that I was desperately trying to find a bird in the dark while standing on what reminded me of a boardwalk let me know just how ready I am for the real thing! 11:51 PM - Saturday, May 6, 2006 - post comment
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Description This blog will feature information on the Friends of Salem Woods Wicked Witchities, a birding team competing in the New Jersey Audubon Society's World Series of Birding on May 13, 2006. We will include information on our past experiences, preparation for next year's event, scouting tips, photos of locales, and ending with live updates from the field on the day of the World Series. Home User Profile Archives Friends NJAS World Series Site Recent Entries - Big Day minus one - WSB scouting - WSB Monday - Hallucinations and Hope - White-tailed Hawk Update |