On a "Big Year", the birder must leverage every opportunity to survey new habitats. Yesterday, I followed up a morning business meeting in Twin Falls with an afternoon of birding in the Hagerman Valley. My list needed a serious boost, and I knew the ponds and Snake River would produce thousands of birds and dozens of new species. I picked up Rob (retired school teacher and avid birder) on the out-skirts of town to be a second pair of eyes. His list was already twice mine, so it was I who would benefit most. Hagerman was still a fair drive away and I needed fuel, so I quickly pulled into McDonalds and had a breakfast for lunch to go. As we approached the first ponds adjacent to the Snake, I found myself disorganized - juggling the last of the Egg McMuffin, binoculars, and zoom lens. I fumbled for a pen and notebook. As predicted, so many species of waterfowl were present that the list grew faster than an Eboli outbreak. I pushed the limits of the pen.....the ink faded out.
At the Hagerman WMA, the open water was covered by waterfowl and the shear weight of them must have raised the 20-acre pond several inches. The listing continued under the direction of a new ink pen....Merganser (common and hooded), Bufflehead, Redhead, Canvasback, Scaup (the Lesser), Rudy, Wood, and on ad infinitum. Suddenly Rob shouts "There's your Cackling Goose!" It was mine in the sense that it was a Life Bird for me. A life bird is so designated when it is the first time you have seen that species in your life. Every bird is a life bird the first time you see it.
Moving on from the ponds, we pulled into the small parking lot of Billingsley Creek WMA. Our only goal here was to list the Virginia Rail which hides in the reeds, far more often heard than seen. I adjusted the recorded call on my Audubon app and proceeded up the trail to the creek. Before I could hit play, the rails were already calling to each other. Sometimes nature is more than accommodating. 38 seconds later, we are back in the jeep and headed to Twin.
I started the day at 41 birds - sightings gathered from January 1 until this trip. I ended the day with 26 more for a total of 67. The journey home was carefree, giddy with pride - you might say I was quite pleased with myself.....until just past dusk I reached the off-ramp at 216 (to Declo). Suddenly I come upon a tall street light that lay across the road. The jeep hits it straight on, blowing out two tires, and cracking the wheel wide open. Each car behind me also strikes the pole - one by one we each pull over with blown tires and untold damage to the under carriage.
With the estimate today, it looks like those birds cost me $61.53 each.
I can't help but wonder. if I had just spent a few minutes less studying the flock of American Pipits, or perhaps staying five more minutes looking for Rob's mysteriously disappearing Greater White-fronted Goose, I would have made it home before the pole blew down, or late enough to be warned by the emergency vehicles that arrived quickly to the scene. The fact is, a big year birder has not the time to count the cost. There are only 350 days left, and I have hundreds of birds to go.